Not by force but by love

I have heard people ask... If God is real and created everything, controls everything and wants us to serve him; then why doesn't he make it so that everyone serves him no matter what. Well here it is. Our love to God is shown through obedience to him. Look at 1st John 5:3 (This is love for God: to obey his commands.) Our love means more to him when we obey him freely not forcefully. Look at Eph 6:5-6 (Slaves obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart.) It means so much more when we obey out of heart, not out of force. So God gives us the freedom of choice to believe in Him and to obey him or not to. Hence the term FREE WILL. God wants people to serve him genuinely.

Careful what you gather

I was reading 2nd Kings 4:38 and this is what came into my heart as I read. Jesus is "the true" vine and produces good fruit. During a famine resources were limited and Elisha's servant gathered from what he could find; a "wild" vine. A wild vine grows without care or direction and can produce unknown, unpredictable, bad fruit. At times false fruit can appear to be ok to consume if we do not question what we are picking up. Others could have been infected by what the servant brought in just as we can infect others by what we bring. Elisha was called to solve the problem just as we should call upon God.
We must be careful of what we allow into our lives and our church family. We must examine them through prayer and with that listen to God's voice inside our hearts. We can also seek the advice of our church leaders and elders. We as christians must make sure there is not a famine of truth, leaving us to pick up the unknown whatever. Unfortunatly there are times christians allow spiritually poisonous things into their lives. If we acknowledge there is poison in our life, bring it to God, pray for Him to throw his grace into the pot so we can rid our lives of it.