Being that Window and Its Shining Light Through Which Others Can See Christ

Do you remember shortly after President Obama took office that he went on a tour addressing the foreign leaders of the world? It was at that time that President Obama told the world that America was no longer a Christian nation. Of course, all true Christians were horrified. We were horrified that an American President would denigrate his own country to the world. But we were also horrified, because in our heart of hearts we were afraid that the growth of Christianity throughout America had indeed slowed down. Was Christianity becoming marginalized? Then we began to think: How could this happen in a country founded on God? Could it be that Christians were no longer letting other people see their Christianity or Christ-light? Could it also be that those who were secular non-Christians truly thought that America was no longer Christian, because they did not see the light of Christ shining within and without in the lives of people professing to be Christians? Were Christians just being tolerated and laughed at for their so-called Christian life?

Certainly, no Christian wanted to believe that this great country, which was founded on God and put into existence by God, was actually slowly turning its back on Him and His Son, Jesus Christ. So, a few Christians began to look at the make-up of our nation and the actual daily culture that America now expresses within all fifty of the states. What many discovered is that over the last fifty to sixty years, Christians have slowly acclimated themselves to the secular world in such a way that it is now hard to distinguish true Christians from the secular world. Certainly, it can sometimes be hard to see the difference between Christians that live only for themselves and good secular people trying to do what they personally believe is right. It is also hard to see the difference between some so-called Christians who are living like the average non-Christian on this planet and those people who are living for only today and what they can get for themselves. That is because many people professing to be Christians seem to be living just for what they can get for themselves too.

In looking at the Christian make-up of our nation, it is obvious that most professing Christians today fail to live out their faith as the Bible tells them it should be lived. For the Scriptures tell us: “Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him, and established in your faith just as you were instructed and overflowing with gratitude.” – (Colossians 2: 6, 7. NASB). Instead most people, and even some truly devoted Christians, do not want to stand out as different from others. Consequently, many Christians can no longer be spotted by their god-honoring dress, their actions, their manners, or righteousness, let alone by what they believe when talking to others. Here again, though, the Bible Scriptures tell us that we are to “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.” – (Colossians 2: 8. NASB).

Sadly, there are many Christians who have been taken captive through worldly philosophies and empty deception. Still other Christians do not want to “rock the boat”, so to speak, by standing up for what they believe in, which is the truth of the Word of God. Instead, it is easier for them to go to church on Sunday morning, (if indeed, they still feel it is important to worship God in community fellowship at least one day a week), and then do what they want to do the rest of the week. For some, Sunday has become the only day of the week that many Christians let others see that they are professing followers of Christ. However, for the rest of the week they cannot be distinguished from other people on their jobs and in and around their community.

Observing the Lord’s Day, Sunday

Why should Sunday or the Lord’s day of rest for man be so important to Christians? Well, Sunday used to be a day to rest from work and a day to concentrate on God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Here in America, and for many years, it was unheard of for Christians not to go to church on both Sunday morning and Sunday evening. For Christians tried to live adhering to God’s commandment to “Remember, the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.”  -- (Exodus 20: 8. NASB).

The Sabbath for Christians is on Sunday, the day of the week when the Lord was resurrected from the grave and conquered eternal death. Indeed, most Christian families in times past went to church on Sunday morning and then had a big noon meal while fellowshipping with extended family and friends. The afternoon was then spent resting or focusing on God and on getting spiritually prepared with Bible study to go to church again Sunday night. Going to church twice in one day not only helped Christians re-connect with God, but it helped us to reconnect with our family and neighbors while enabling us to build life-long relationships that we enjoyed and relationships that could also be used when life threw us a curve or hardship. This Christian fellowship and connectivity gave Christians the knowledge that they not only had God in their corner, but that they had other Christians in their corner as well who could be there for them when times got rough.

The Bible tells us that the early Christians of the first century “… regularly assembled together in the temple in their united purpose, and in their homes they broke bread [including the Lord’s Supper]. They partook of their food with gladness and simplicity and generous hearts.” – (Acts 2: 46. Amplified). Because of their example, over the centuries Christians have assembled together on Sunday to worship and learn more about the Lord, and for centuries many met in their homes to fellowship and partake of food. However, we have seen a huge departure from this custom as Christians now have their time taken up by so many secular responsibilities and well as secular desires. Consequently, close Christian relationships with other church members are few and far between.

Many times, our church related relationships with other Christians became a type of Active Relational Christian Mentoring; empowering others to be all that they can be for the Lord, themselves, their family and their friends. That is because, Christians knew they were to encourage each other, teach each other, bear each other’s trials, sponsor others, and were to give emotional support when needed. As a result, and in years past, many communities were filled with Christians whose lives became a window through which others in the community who did not know Christ could see Jesus. Many of our American communities could be considered to be Christian communities with church attendance being high within all the denominations.

Wednesday Night Church Services and Prayer Meetings

By the time Monday morning came around, church going people had been refreshed in the Word of God and were now ready to face the work week and the trials that come from living in a fallen world. But, to keep them from back-sliding and to help maintain their focus on living for Christ, Christians again gave up their Wednesday evenings for the Lord by attending Wednesday night church services or prayer meetings. This mid-week church service reinvigorated Christians by helping them to focus on their devotion to the Lord and by taking the focus off of themselves. Instead they again put their focus on the Lord and on the needs of others. This focus and refreshing in the Word of God enabled most Christians to be able to both mentally and emotionally get through the rest of the week, as they relied on the Lord while looking forward to going to church yet again on the following Sunday morning.

What happened to those days of attempting to live daily for Christ and of truly expressing our belief in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior? What happened to most of the Christians who focused on living out the truth of the Word of God and whose lives had become an open window through which others could see Christ? Well, many things happened, including careers, personal desires, the busyness of our technologically empowered lives along with the invasive non-Christian secular views that have come into our homes via the television and eventually through other media. Soon all these things and the many others exciting possibilities for the use of our time began to entice those who were paying only lip service to Christ to miss the Sunday night church services for a show on television, or for preparation for the Monday morning job, or for a myriad of other personal reasons. Fulfilling our own selfish desires gradually became more important than attending church or telling others about Christ. Additionally, preparation for jobs or careers and the need to climb the ladder of success kept many other people from attending church on Sunday night.

For years, it was much easier to set aside the time to attend Sunday morning and Sunday night church services. One of the reasons that Christians did not have to juggle their Sunday time with other activities was because the Sunday Sabbath did not have to vie for a position in our lives. Most people knew that Sunday was the Lord’s day and a day of rest. Moreover, originally our Christian heritage and culture kept businesses or stores from being open on Sunday so there was not the temptation to stay away from church. Furthermore, most of the stores in our communities were either run by Christians or the store owners were influenced by other Christians to keep the Lord’s Day of rest. Gradually, though, stores began to stay open on Sunday just as they did throughout the week which was made all the easier by states that no longer had laws regarding not opening stores on Sunday. However, as more and more opportunities to do other things became available, people eventually voted down Sunday closure laws. It seems that many people no longer wanted to set aside Sunday as a day of rest or to worship for the Lord. They wanted to do things when they wanted to do them such as shopping on Sunday. But, with stores opening on Sunday a whole new can of worms emerged. Now, employers needed people to work in their stores on Sunday. Conversely, stores being open on Sunday now meant that those who needed extra work to make ends meet, or who just wanted extra pay, could receive a better paycheck if they worked on Sunday. These stores enticed people who might not have missed church to now do so for various reasons including getting more money from working or Sunday  or shopping.

At first, most employers respected the desire of those who wanted to go to church on Sunday and so allowed Christian employees and those who wanted the day off to attend church, to do so. However, in some cases, instead of asking their employer for Sunday off so they could attend church, some Christians just opted to work all day on Sunday for the extra pay and thus they missed both church services. Whatever the excuse given, this meant that many people chose to no longer attend church on Sunday. In many cases, both parents and teenagers were now working on Sunday. The example the parents set for their children would be felt generations later as well.

Unfortunately, stores being open on Sunday also affected the non-Christians as well, because some people that might have entered the church doors to meet Christ, no longer had the opportunity to do so even if they had the desire to do so because they worked on Sunday. To make matters worse, instead of fellowshipping with other Christians after church or with their families, many Christian people now chose to go shopping after church on Sunday. This was easy to do, because the states now allowed the stores to be open on Sunday, so almost anything that people wanted to purchase could now also be bought on Sunday. Stores opening on Sunday also enabled many people who might have just worked five days a week to take six day a week jobs and work on Saturday, because they felt they still had Sunday as a day off from work before going back to work on Monday. They could now do their shopping on Sunday too. Sadly, for many people, there was no longer a true week-end to be had. More and more people chose to live as they wished while acclimating themselves to the convenience of the secular culture. In other words, everyone “started doing what was right in his own eyes.” -- (Judges 17:6. NASB). God was no longer first in their lives.

Sliding Down a Slippery Slope

This slide, from Sunday church going Christians who focused on the Lord and the needs of others, to Christians who found every excuse in the book to avoid going to church happened gradually but with selfishness for one’s own needs. Many so-called Christians and even true Christians who wanted to do things their own way, were now petitioning their pastors and church leaders to not have Wednesday church services either. So, no longer did many denominations hold Wednesday church services or prayer meetings. Along with Christian fellowship going down the drain, the mid-week refresher service that focused on God and prayer for others was gone. Christians could now go throughout the entire week without spending any time in the Word of God or without thinking of God. In the busy world in which we now live, this meant that many people did not go to church except on Sunday morning, i.e., if they could still fit attending church into their schedule. This also meant that the influence of the convenience of the secular world was becoming stronger and stronger on Christians, with many Christians no longer letting their life be a window through which others could see Jesus. Moreover, many Christian lives could no longer be distinguished from the lives of non-Christians.

Technology with Facebook, the I-phone, and the internet with its emails, etc. has even taken more and more of our time away from Christ and from our attempting to live for Him. Add to that, the liberal colleges and the young people who have chosen through either their lack of knowledge about God and Christ, or through their professor’s warped views of believing there isn’t a God and the professors’ subsequent propaganda to turn students from God and their parent’s godly beliefs and we have a world that doesn’t want to acknowledge God and His Son. The result is that we now have at least a couple of generations of people who are only “doing what is right in their own eyes”. With their selfishness, they can care less about other people and they certainly don’t care about God. Obviously, they don’t believe in God and even refuse to listen to those who believe in Christ. The politically correct campus students and media have further denigrated Christianity while Christians have not stood up to them.

To make matters worse, this political correctness along with the addition and growth of liberal politics and the liberal media of the secular world that tells people how they should think has given us an America that has now become a country that no longer stands up for God and Christ. Moreover, most true Christians have decided to just live and let live, because it is too much effort to be different from the rest of the world. Many Christians may worship the Lord, but will still often fail to establish Christian relationships or fail to speak up about God and Christ when given the opportunity. By doing nothing, we have allowed Christianity to be marginalized and in many cases shunned. What can we do to change the status quo? What can we do to keep our country from truly becoming that non-Christian country that Barack Obama spoke of on his apology tour?

What Can We Do to Return to Our Christian Roots and Share Christ With Others?

As Christians, we have some serious choices and decisions to make. We can continue to act as if we are scared of the rest of the world and that we cannot do anything about the direction that our country is going? Or, we can return to our Christian roots and outwardly and vigorously live our lives for Christ, while sharing the Gospel message with as many people as we can. Certainly, just allowing our Christ-light to shine through our kind words and actions is important, but there is more to being a Christian than just living daily for ourselves and hoping that others will see Christ in us. Yes, we are to be that window through which others can see Christ, but not everyone will automatically look through the window. Sometimes, we need to raise the window sash and then stick our heads out of the window to tell the others about Christ.

Sowing for the Lord

The Apostle Paul told the Galatians that they needed to share the Gospel with others. Sharing the Gospel is a type of sowing, for we are sowing the seeds of Salvation and the hope of eternity for those who are lost. The Apostle Paul said:

“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. So, then, while we have the opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are the household of faith.”  -- (Galatians 6: 7-10. NASB).

Obviously, God cares about how we live our lives. Not only does He care about our personal conduct, but God cares about the motives that are lodged in our heart. What motivates you to do the things that you are doing? Are you listening to the Holy Spirit and following through to do as He has asked, or are you listening to a selfish, “me only” heart that wants to fit in with what the rest of the world is doing? We all have to ask: are we doing the things that we are doing because we care about God and others, or are we doing whatever we are doing just because we want what we want, or we want others to think that we are good? There is so much that every woman can do for the Lord and much does not even require a great deal of time. We just have to do the work of the Lord for the right reasons and with and open window.

God tells us that He sees our hearts and our sowing. He also tells us that we reap what we sow. This means that if we do not open our window and tell the world about Christ, we obviously will not be able to lead others to Christ. At the same time, what we do with our own life has consequences, and we must bear the consequences of our choices. So, if we choose to emulate the world in which we live rather than be that Christian who lets others see Christ in us, we will also reap what we have done. Right now, Christians are reaping what we have failed to sow, which has resulted in a country with less and less Christians who truly want to make a difference.  Consequently, we are now living in a country that refuses to live by the truth of the Word of God and God’s Ten Commandments. Why? Well, for 50 or more years, Christians have acclimated and assimilated themselves into the secular world and have allowed their conduct to become that of the secular world rather than that of living for God. Christians have gradually accepted the secular world’s views on philosophy and other things that are ungodly. We have also failed to tell others about Christ, i.e., we have failed to share the Gospel message, so we have fewer and fewer people becoming Christians and living for Christ.

We are Reaping What We Sowed

What are we reaping from the life that we are supposed to be living for God? We bear the consequences of doing nothing and of allowing ourselves to be assimilated into the world’s behaviors and ways. If there is any doubt we have reaped what we have not sown, just look around at the America that we are living in right now. Sadly, there are more people today in America that have not heard of Jesus Christ’s gift of Salvation than in years past. We have even allowed immigrants to come into our country without reaching out to teach them about God and Christ. Thus, they have not assimilated into our American culture nor have they found Christ, but are instead living their own culture in America, and many times that is living without God and His Son.

Why have we Christians pulled our heads into our shells or closed our windows and drawn the blinds thus refusing to allow Christ to be seen and talked about in our lives? Could it be that we are afraid to be ridiculed or perhaps we just don’t care about the Salvation of others? If either of those answers are true, we have essentially closed our doors and windows to sharing Christ with others. How sad!

Christians, though, can change how they react to the world. In fact, there are many ways that we can tell others about Christ and speak up to show others how to live for Him. There are also many ways in which we can help our country focus again on God and on what the founding fathers established for us through God’s enlightenment to these men who founded this godly country. Obviously, for those who do not know God, they need to be taught about Him. They need to understand that there is a different way to look at the world than through the eyes of the evil one, i.e., the devil who wants this fallen world to be destroyed through our self-absorption, our need for self-gratification, our personal lies, our desire to control others through man-made laws that benefit the few instead of the majority, through political shenanigans, and ultimately through our pride and need to be right even when we are wrong.

Reclaiming Our Christian Nation

So, how do we go about reclaiming our nation as a Christian nation that loves God. Certainly, we have to show others that we love them and then we need to teach other people how to live outwardly and truly for Christ once they are saved. We need our churches to focus on teaching people how to devote themselves to God and how to reap the benefits of that devotion. Life will not become less than, but will rather become more joyous and blessed when we give God the Sabbath Sunday that He has set aside for us to rest, refresh, and refocus on Him. Moreover, Christians will be strengthened to get through the week, if they are willing to again give God the Sabbath Sunday. But, first we have to be willing to give up some things for “me” in order to live fully for Christ. At first, giving up some of the candy of the secular world can seem like a sacrifice, but eventually giving more of our time to God and His Son, will be seen as a blessing that keeps on blessing us every day.

We can also go about reclaiming our nation as Christian nation that loves God by engaging with another individual one person at time. Sowing the love of Christ can easily occur when we engage with one person at a time, but it has to be a concerted effort by all Christians to do so if we want a quick change in how people live and in what they believe. By concerted effort, I mean that every Christian must first decide to be of service to the Lord and really mean it. Every Christian and their denomination must focus on sharing Christ with the world around them. In fact, if every Christian just decided to make living for God and His Son a priority in their life, then every Christian would be able to actively mentor or share the Gospel with at least one other person. The message would then grow exponentially! For every person with whom we share the Word of God, will lead to another person who will then be told of the Gospel message and who can then go and tell another person. Just as importantly, we also have to teach each other how to live the Gospel and what it means to share the Word of God with others. In fact, the Word of God tells us to not only share the Gospel, but to teach others about Christ. For Jesus specifically told us to “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”  -- (Matthew 28: 19, 20. NASB). Over the years, though, we have just failed to do so, which has led to fewer and fewer people being introduced to Christ.

Obviously, mentoring and sharing about Christ takes time, but if all Christians were suddenly determined to truly live for Christ by living out the Word of God daily, we could make a difference in this world. And, if all Christians chose to mentor or to tell another about Christ, it could be like those old-fashioned revivals where many people came to know Christ as their personal savior during a particular week of revival services at church. Think about it: What if there were those type of revival mentorings and sharings happening everywhere in the United States at the same time? Couldn’t we see hundreds if not thousands of people come to know Christ as their personal Savior in a short period of time?  What if all Churches got back to holding revivals every two – three months? (When was the last time your church hosted a week-long revival with great advertising and with Christians inviting people to come?) How many people could be introduced to Christ, especially, if the Christians in that church went out into the highways and byways to invite and encourage their friends and acquaintances to come to the revival? There will always be some church leaders and lackadaisical Christians who will say that a revival is a waste of time, but even if just one person accepted Christ as their Savior, that is one more person into the Kingdom of God and Heaven. How could that ever be wrong?

We couldn’t stop there with just that one week of revival, though, because there would still be plenty of work to do for the Lord and for the renewal of our country’s faith in God. As true followers of Christ, we would also need to actively and relationally mentor those who were newly saved; mentoring them in discipleship and learning about the Word of God. Christians would need to make time to be there for the newly saved, especially during those times when Satan and his minions tried to mess up the newly saved’s lives through pain and suffering, or when the trials of this world or the secular media as well as their so-called friends tried to humiliate or make fun of them for choosing Christ.

Salvation is just the glorious beginning.  Next comes living for Christ and learning how to share the joy of Salvation with those who have not as yet found Salvation. Indeed, there is joy in sharing the Gospel message with others. We just need to be willing to open our windows and shout the message to those passing by.

Teaching Others How to Live For Christ

Obviously, Christians need to teach others about living for Christ. We have to teach such things as the Apostle Paul explained to the Galatians when he said: “Do all things without grumbling or disputing: so that you will  prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as light in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain.”  -- (Philippians 2: 14-16. NASB).

In order to change the way America is perceived, Christians would also need to teach each other and teach the new Christians what it means to live for Christ, by focusing on living out the words of God. For example, such things as meditating on the Word of God, i.e., the Scriptures, would need to be explained to the newly saved. New Christians would also need to learn how to pursue an even closer walk with the Lord. Such things as fasting, and making the time to fellowship with other Christians would also need to be promoted. As, the Bible teaches, Christians are to do both. For, fasting strengthens the Christian personally and brings us closer to God. Fellowshipping with other Christians also keeps us focused on living for God and at the same time encourages the support and love of the entire body of Christ.

Next, both new and longtime Christians need to be taught what “resisting the temptations of this world” means. First, Christians need to be taught that resisting temptation starts with not getting close to our temptations in the first place. It is just like fire. Even though a fire may be contained within a hot stove that is used to warm a cabin in the winter, if we go too close to that stove and lean upon it, we could get severely burned. Staying a safe distance from the stove assures us that we don’t get burned. It is the same with all the temptations in the world. We need to stay a safe distance from those that could draw us into sin.

The devil, or Satan as he is also known, delights in putting as many temptations as he can in front of each person. Moreover, with the help of his minions or fallen angels Satan researches our desires and weaknesses in order to put in front of each person the exact temptations that he has geared specifically for them. That is because, Satan wants each person to be as close as possible to their own personal temptation so that he will have the best chance of capturing that person in a sticky web that can ruin their lives here on earth.  But, if Christians study the Word of God, if they meditate on the Word, and if they have Active Relational Christian Mentoring accountability partners who can help them to stay away from a particular temptation, they can make sure that they don’t succumb or get to close to a particular temptation to succumb. Focusing on God, living for Christ daily, and sharing the Gospel message along with attending worship services and fellowshipping with other Christians gives both new and longtime Christians less time to be enticed by Satan’s temptations.

Being that Window and Light Through Which Others Can See Christ

I could go on and on, but I will end this week’s blog with the words of the Apostle Paul to the Thessalonians about being that Window through which others can see Christ. Paul commended these fairly new believers, the Thessalonians, on how they were living and sharing the Gospel with everyone they met. Certainly, Christians today can learn a great deal from the Thessalonians. For they were persecuted for their belief in Christ and faced constant tribulation. Yet they refused to stop preaching the Gospel and they refused to quit living as Christ wanted them to live with righteousness and kindness.

Just like the Thessalonians we can become powerful witnesses for Christ. Moreover, Christians can live each day with righteousness and kindness, showing the world that one who lives for Christ can be filled with goodness, joy, and happiness no matter what the world throws at us. We just need to find the courage to express our belief even in a world that ridicules us. Now, let’s read the introduction to Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians to get a glimpse into how we are to live for Christ.  Paul wrote:

“… To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.

We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers; constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father, knowing, brethren beloved by God, His choice of you; for our gospel did not come to you in word only but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.

You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything. For they themselves report about us what kind of reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus who rescues us from the wrath to come.”  -- (I Thessalonians 1: 1-10. NASB).

Christians everywhere need to spread the word of the Gospel. We need to tell our personal salvation stories and live in such a way that the light in our window to the truth about Christ and the gift of Salvation can be seen. That means too, that we are to shine our Christ-light not only through our window, but we are to take it with us everywhere we go so that others can see Christ in us. Furthermore, it is more important than ever that Christians everywhere make a concerted effort to share Christ with others and to let the world see Christ in us. You can do it! You can make a difference through Active Relational Christian Mentoring, through evangelism, through friendship, through your church or by engaging in any other services for the Kingdom of God.  If you are a Christian, please start sharing Christ with others today!

Something to Think About if You have not Yet Asked Christ into Your Heart

Blessings of the Cross:  Day 17
by Stormie Omartian

The LORD takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those

who hope in His mercy. Psalm 147:11

I’ve spent many years learning to understand

what was accomplished when Jesus died on the cross, and

it simply means that Jesus took all that I have coming to

me—pain sickness, failure, confusion, hatred, rejection,

and death—and gave me all that He had coming to Him all

His wholeness, healing, love, acceptance, peace, joy

and life. Because of God’s grace, we can pray the prayers

of salvation. All we have to do is say, “Jesus come live

in me and be Lord over my life.”

Grace has to do with it all being Him. He does it.

Not us. Grace is always a surprise. You think it’s not

going to happen, and it does. If it weren’t for God’s grace

and mercy, we wouldn’t even be saved for the Bible tells

us, “by grace you have been saved” (Eph. 2:8) and

“according to His mercy He saved us” (Titus 3:5).

As long as you are alive, it is never too late to ask Christ for His mercy and grace. You, too, can ask Christ to forgive you and ask Christ to come into your heart. But, once your heart quits beating, it is forever too late. Today is the perfect day to give your heart to Christ. You can do it! You can give your heart and life to Christ.