UNLESS YOU PEOPLE. I was reading my Bible this morning as I do and I got stuck on these words of Jesus,
“Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.”” John 4:48
Do you fall into this group? Do you fall into the “unless” group of people? Unless you people get your prayers answered. Unless you people have things go your way. Unless you people never have to endure pain, affliction persecution or sorrow. Unless you people receive a miracle. Unless you people….fill in the blank. This group of people has very shallow faith. The first offense that comes will send you reeling.
The first person to look at you sideways will ruffle your feathers. This unless group always wants their way and seeks to be filled by their own means. This unless people will never take responsibility for their own actions and cannot see past their hurts. They have a big plank in the or eye and are not fit to judge anyone’s spiritual condition because they won’t take care of their own. They want all the gifts and all the glory without the refining.
I know this group of people very well. Unless you bow down to what they want, they are out. Unless you give in to their demands, they will throw a fit. This unless crowd will love you until you do something wrong in their eyes. There is a requirement for their love. There is a requirement for their kindness. There is a requirement for their forgiveness. They will attack you unless you do what they want you to do. There’s a huge crowd of these unless people church hopping, bring their offenses to the next place with them telling anyone who will listen, “Do you know what they did to me!?” This unless crowd cannot keep their mouth shut to save their life. Unless you do what they want, they are out. This unless crowd is lukewarm and shallow.
“I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” Luke 13:3
There’s another unless people. This group is much much smaller. These unless people are a remnant who have come out of the fires of affliction. This unless people walk the narrow path of suffering. You can smack their right cheek and they will give you their left to smack. These people have truly repented and therefore have no demands from anyone. They have no conditions to love. They have no conditions to be kind. They have no conditions to forgive and let all bitterness go because these unless people know they deserve nothing but hell, yet they have been given great grace and mercy.
These unless people fall into that very small remnant that can endure all things, go through all affliction and persecution and still remain planted in the house of the Lord. They refuse all bitterness and resentment. They have no cause for offense because they love His Word. They are quick to forgive and seek reconciliation. They are planted in the house of the Lord. The test cannot destroy them. The arrows of the enemy will never take root in them. They wisely guard their mouth. They sit under the mighty hand of the Lord and they receive His rebuke and chastening as a good and faithful son of God. And because they receive His rebuke, no rebukes of man can wound them. This unless people understand that repentance has no demands.
“I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.” Luke 15:18-19
Repentance has no demands. Notice that when the prodigal returned, he didn’t even ask for his position back as a son. He understood the depravity of his sin was against the Father. Repentance has no demands. The repentant are servants of the Lord. He is their Lord and Master. They have no right to their own way, none at all. They do only the will of the Father. Which unless group of people do you fall in? Judge righteously. The Lord knows your true spiritual condition.
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