Can you go too far?

Hello Guys and Gals!

For most of my adult life, I was a hedonist. I did things simply for my pleasure and that was my motivation for doing anything. During this time, God was working on me. He called me to follow Him completely and I never did. Even my own family and friends kept telling me I needed to grow up and start taking responsibility for my life. I was told time and again that I needed to be a man and correct the bad things in my life, you know, grow up!

Now that I have committed myself to God completely in all that I do, and I'm speaking His Word, spreading the Gospel, and standing up for the Truth, relying on His strength for my integrity, I ask the question, 'Have I gone too far?'! Can you go too far in following Him? Is what I now am distasteful to others because I follow Him so completely? Now I'm not saying that I'm perfect or even close to it, but I am committed to Him and doing His will in my life and the lives of others. But have I gone too far?

I remember posting about how if I lost everything, including family and friends, and if I still have Jesus, then I have the world and more because He is all I need! Well, I believe now that He tested me in this. When I have a confrontation with my brother, I was tested in how I would react. I did the right thing and stayed calm. When my brother got violent, I called the police and let them handle it. During this event and the following conversations with my family, I learned that my brother lied to my family about many things concerning that event. He has also told many others that he will catch up with me one day and then the score will be settled. I spoke the truth to my family, the police, the District Attorney, and even the Judge on the stand at court. Yet my brother has bragged to people that my family has essentially disowned me and how pleased he is by that. My family says they haven't, yet none of them call me. The only one who does is my mother every couple of months or so.

I stood up for the truth and did not lie even about how I was feeling during the time of the event and after. I was called a liar by many in my family. This hurt me very much. Even now I can feel the pain of it all. I had to tell my mother that so long as my brother intends to do me harm, that I will have nothing to do with either him or anyone else who associates with him in any way. This was very difficult for me to do. But then, there was only my mother calling me at that time anyway. I fear that my brother will somehow find a way to find out where I now live and other ways to cause me harm.

But through it all, every single second of it, Jesus stood by my side and gave me His strength to handle this trial I am going through right now. Jesus lets me know every single day that He is by my side as I struggle with everything that I am struggling with. Even through all of this, my life has improved. My health is getting better, even if it's doing so slowly. My finances are improving. My home life with my friend Corey is awesome. He's one of the best friends I have ever had. And even my devoted time to Jesus and His Word has improved by so much it cannot be measured.

But again, let me ask, did I go too far? I don't think I did! I am relying on God more than ever before and He has proven Himself to be faithful again and again...oh yeah, even again after that! Jesus, you are my true Lord and I happily get down on my knees before you every morning. You are my savior and I am forever thankful that you loved a wretch like me enough to pull me out of the hell I was living in and restore to me all that You have. You are my God and I will forever praise you saying, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty!

Here is the whole point of this post, you can never go too far when you're going towards Jesus! The simple truth is, no matter how far you do go, He is always with you and encouraging you to come even closer to Him. Even when I am living in His holy city, being every day in His presence for ten thousand years, He will still be challenging me to come even closer to Him! I love him so much that my heart literally aches at the thought of being able to walk up to Him and fall to my knees before Him and thank Him for being Him!

If you feel that Jesus is challenging you to come closer to Him, then take up that challenge and see what He has in store for you. Yes, I am still struggling with this issue in my life and I pray daily for restoration of my family, but just having Jesus is still more than enough for me! I pray that you also find this kind of relationship with Him in your life as well!

May God give each and every one of you a special blessing this day!