How is your relationship with the Lord Jesus today? Does it sizzle, or fizzle?  Usually I work my way up to the subject, but today I want you to realize we don’t have time to waste.  We know Jesus is coming back, but when?  It could be today, it could be in several hundred years, but each of us have our own “expiration date”, and it could be right now, we just don’t know.  Do you have a guarantee of tomorrow?  I don’t, and neither do you.  So we should be taking care of the most important matters in our lives FIRST, and our soul is our most important possession.

When most people come to know the Lord Jesus, their love for Him sizzles.  But what about a few years later? Does it still sizzle? Or has it fizzled out?  Sadly, many have lost their sizzle, and they didn’t really do it on purpose, it just happened.  How?  Glad you asked!  Have you ever built a campfire?  As long as there is wood on the fire, it sizzles.  But neglect putting another log on the fire, and after a while, the fire dies down and down until its just glowing embers, and if you don’t refuel it, you end up with cold ashes.  And then you’re sad because the fire died out because you were really enjoying it?  Could YOU have gotten up and put a log on the fire?  Yes, but maybe you felt like someone else would do it.  Does that sound like your situation?

It isn’t “someone else’s” job to keep your relationship with Jesus sizzling, it’s YOUR job!  Interestingly, it says in Revelation 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him, and he with me.” That means YOU have to open the door of your heart for Him to come in.  So you welcome Him in, and then after a while, you neglect Him until you are no longer aware He is even there.  But the Bible doesn’t say He LEAVES, does it?  No, He just sits there alone and neglected until you stir up your interest in Him again.  Now, think about it, how would YOU feel if you went over to someone’s home and they welcomed you in and were so happy to see you….for a few minutes, and then they got on their phone talking to their friends, or got on Facebook, or left you sitting there while they went shopping.  Get a picture of that in your mind, because that’s what we do to Jesus.

Because the Lord Jesus promised to neither leave or forsake us, we tend to think, “I’ll just do my thing, and if I need you, Lord, I will call.  Don’t call me; I’ll call YOU.” And guess what?  You probably didn’t even think about it, but the “sizzle” is gone, as in “Elvis has left the building”.  Well, you may think that’s a healthy relationship with Jesus, but it isn’t a relationship at all.  Jesus went “all in” for YOU: He endured suffering beyond anything we could possibly imagine, so that YOU could have your sins forgiven. What have you given Him in return?  “Well, I pray sometimes, I read my Bible sometimes (that is when I don’t have something more interesting to do).  Of course, you didn’t really SAY the latter part, you just DID it.

Now imagine treating your husband or wife that way.  On your wedding day, your love was sizzling, no doubt about it.  The honeymoon was great, too.  But now ten years down the road, how is it?  Is your marriage full of affection like it was in the beginning?  No? Why not?  I’ll tell you: somebody got tired of “fueling the fire”, and there’s only the two of you, so somebody lost interest in the relationship.   In the beginning, you two were in the car driving down the road, and you were sitting so close it was hard to tell who was driving.  Now, years later, one of you is on one side of the car, and the other is all the way on the other side. Somebody moved!  Let me tell you, in your relationship with Jesus, if somebody moves, IT WON’T BE JESUS!  So if your relationship with Jesus has fizzled, it isn’t HIS fault, it’s YOURS!

I know people don’t like to hear the truth sometimes, but I’m concerned for your soul.  God placed me as a watchman, to warn you from the LORD, even as Ezekiel was set as a watchman to warn the people from Him. Go read Ezekiel chapter 3 and also chapter 33, they both say the same thing.  The time is different, but the message is the same.  It isn’t how you start, it’s how you FINISH that counts.  The Lord Jesus told us in Revelation 3:19-22,

19  As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
20  Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
21  To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
22  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

God is warning people, time is short!  Get right with Me while you have the chance, for your physical life is not forever.  I gave My ALL so you may be saved, but the choice is YOURS, not Mine.  We can sizzle or fizzle, and the choice is entirely up to YOU!