November 18, 1996
Dear Br. Moffitt:
It has been several years since I talked with you and I wondered how you and your wife are getting along. Did you ever sell your property at a price you wanted? We have not yet found property that is suitable to our needs but, in His time, the Lord will provide.
Perhaps we may wait until we get to heaven and the Lord recreates
the new earth, then we may have a city home, in the new Jerusalem,
as well as a country home and it won’t cost anything except
our sins. All we have to pay, for a lovely home that is ours throughout
eternity, is a bunch of worthless sins that no one, except Christ,
wants anyway. The price, of this land, is small compared to the
price Christ paid for us. It cost him all of heaven. His sacrifice,
to purchase us from a life of sin, was fabulously expensive, yet
He gives us salvation as a free gift, no money down and no monthly
payments or mortgage interest. His gift ought to be worth everything
to us, because it is an evidence of His deep adoration for each
of us. He does not save us in bunches but individually, therefore,
His sacrifice, on the cross, was as much for you as it is for
me.
The new earth will not resemble anything we can possibly imagine.
No sin, no sickness, no one will ever get tired, no blindness,
no need for cars, and no one will ever wish we weren’t there.
Everyone will be glad to see us. That’s nice.
To realize that this is already our inheritance, purchased for
us by Christ, and freely given on condition that we surrender
all of our transgressions, bad traits of character, and live His
life of love and kindness. We don’t have to do this alone.
Whenever we sin, the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sins and urges
us to confess them. If we make confession, that is to say, you
are right and I am wrong, then Christ gives us the gift of repentance,
or a turning away from these sins. It is free, a gift, for we
could never repent or turn away from our sins through our own
ability.
As you know, along with the gift of repentance, Christ washes
us and cleanses away the sins that cause pollution. All He asks
of us is to believe that He has forgiven us and cleansed us from
our sins and then act purified. As temptation comes to us, rather
then resist the Holy Spirit, we should stop opposing Him, this
is called Christian obedience or surrender. Just as an army does
nothing, when it surrenders, except to stop fighting, so the Christian
ceases withstanding the conviction of the Holy Spirit and does
nothing, except stop resisting. Christ will remove all sins from
us, if we will just stop fighting Him and trying to keep them.
If He wants them, let Him have them.
I am concerned for Christian men. We have forgotten or never understood
our privilege and responsibility to so live for Christ that others
may see Him in our behavior. This is what is meant by modeling
the character or glory of Christ, and it is what Christ desires
from all of us, especially from men.
If every man, who ever professed the name of Christ, would endeavor
to so live as to be Christ-like, then He would return quickly
and this old, wicked world would cease to exist. O for men who
understand their God-given privileges to be missionaries where
ever they may live, first in our own homes, then in the community,
first to our families, then to every one else we meet throughout
the day. We need not preach a sermon or give a Bible study, but
we can so live that others will take note that we have spent time
with Christ. If our associates cannot see Christ in us, then we
are not Christians. To be a Christian, after all, is to be Christ-like,
to resemble him in everything we do and say.
We would like to hear from you. We have not forgotten you, just
as Christ has not forgotten about you. He loves you with an everlasting
passion and He desires, above all things, that you should be with
Him in heaven for an eternity. Give Him your sins. This is our
passport to heaven.
May the Lord bless you. Your brother in Christ.
Allen A. Benson