The New Year

Happy 2014! 
The fact that it is now the 6th of the month does not diminish my well wishes for you and this coming year.  I have to apologize for the long period between blogs.  All this social media stuff is a new world for me.  Not so much because my wife and I were missionaries living outside the U.S. for so long (they have internet just about everywhere)  but rather because I am a borderline old goat that has not always kept up with the times.  In addition, I don't think my opinions are all that which is what I previously thought blogs were meant to primarily promote.   However, I have found that blogs not only serve to promote our personal opinions or self esteem but to share words of encouragement with each other.  With that in mind I would like to encourage all who profess Jesus as Lord and Savior to be more intentional about being Biblically  correct rather  than politically  correct in 2014.  No I don't mean you have to be a thoughtless person who steps all over someone's feelings.  However, it seems that we have been so browbeaten into being political correct and careful about everything we say in order not to be offensive  that we bend over backwards to exclude Christ from our conversations, our statements regarding our beliefs and we don't think that perhaps not sharing the Gospel  with others is offensive to Him.   We also need to remember that the Gospel does indeed offend because it reminds people that they are lost without Christ in their life.  People seldom like being reminded that they are not right with God.   As much as we wish to avoid the word, Christianity is exclusive because it teaches that Christ is the only way to the Father.  Acts 4:12 emphatically states "and there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved".  Please, as you move forward in 2014, be as mindful of not offending Jesus as you are about not offending others.