October 1, 2026
Good morning friends. Well, here we are with the wacky weather of fall. At 5 a.m. the temperature is 46 degrees, that will drop a degree or two just before sunrise. Today’s high is set to be 66 degrees, with tomorrow’s high to hit near 86 here in Lusk. We should be through with the 80 degree days by this time of the year, but next week is predicted to be in the high 70’s and low 80’s. With no badly needed precipitation in sight, please be careful with anything that could start a fire!
I know that with this kind of weather I should be working outside, but I am trying to put a day’s worth of lessons together for our Men’s Rally, along with getting ready for a Sunday School lesson and two sermons for this Sunday, as well as preparing lessons for two weekly Zoom meetings with young men. Miss Deb is doing a long-term sub job at our local elementary school. My girlfriend is amazing when it comes to helping the children in her classes know that she cares about each of them. Teaching children is one of the many ways Miss Deb serves our Lord.
“Made For More,” sung by Josh Baldwin. is a song that has really gripped my heart. One of the lines of that song reads, “The Cross of salvation was only the start.” Loved ones, I am of the opinion that too many of us who profess Christ as Savior, have accepted Jesus as Savior, and now we are just waiting for Him to call us Home.
As the song states, “The Cross of salvation was only the start.” You see loved ones, as important as accepting Jesus as Savior is, Ephesians 2:10 leads me to the conviction that salvation is more about how we live the rest of our lives than it is about how it starts.
Remember the parable found in Matthew 24 that speaks of the second coming of Jesus? The master leaves his slave in charge of caring for his fellow slaves and in verse 46 we read these words, “Blessed is that slave whom his maser finds so doing when he comes.” Did you catch the words “so doing”? Salvation isn’t a time out; it’s a time to rev up and be found faithful when our Master returns!
My dear friends, do you think that any of us are so special that God the Father would call us to salvation in Jeus because we deserve it? NO! Salvation is always an act of God’s grace. He presents the gift of salvation, all we have to do it to accept the gift, free of charge, regardless of the color of our skin or the terribleness of our sin, salvation is always a gift from God!
Yet none of us are saved just for our good, but always for His glory! And that is the way the rest of our life is to be lived, for His glory! You see, Satan, our evil enemy wants us to think that salvation is the end product instead of “only the start.” God’s word tells us that we are saved by grace, to “do” the things the Bible tells us to do. Jesus told His first disciples that they would be blessed if the “do” the things He had instructed them to do. Why would we present-day disciples be charged with anything less?
Each day, each of us who claim to be a Christ follower have plenty of opportunities to “do” something that will glorify our Heavenly Father, all we have to do is watch for the opportunity. A conversation, an act of kindness, a hug, an encouraging word, a testimony or biblical truth shared. We can all “do” something besides just exist. Today, let the soap operas and the golf clubs have a rest and look for something that will be a blessing for someone – thus be “doers of the word.” James declares, “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.”
Today, let’s all “do” something that brings joy to our Savior, thus revealing that our salvation was only the start, as we find the “more” that we were saved for!
Finishing well with you, Neal
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