I want to apologize for not publishing any posts yesterday. I got caught up in taking care of my home and I didn’t even have my own Bible study time.
Now…this is something that I read a little earlier this morning and I thought about sharing what the Bible actually says about that three-letter word…sin.
“I realized that if I, as a Christian, died living in active sins and came before God, I would be judged and condemned to Hell because after putting on the perfect garment of the righteousness of Jesus Christ, I had dirtied my robe and had refused to repent of active sins.” This belief is not Biblical at all even though it is taught and preached in many churches. The teaching that should be taught is that IF you have given your heart totally to Christ and you are saved by the Holy Spirit and changed from the person you were into a “new creation”, even that un-intentional sin is forgiven. IF however, you have not been saved as a new creation and you are living in a state of active sin, then you will go to hell.
There are many who believe that they are saved by their knowledge of Jesus and they’re “going through the motions” like going to church and prayer and occasional reading of the Bible. This is not salvation, it is knowledge of Jesus and that is all. This is a deception that has been placed into many sermons and misquoted by many so there are many who actually believe it. You are not a Christian by association and you don’t become one just because your grandmother said that she has been a Christian all of her life.
Being and becoming a Christian only comes to each of us when God touches our heart and breaks it spiritually so that we know that we need Jesus. At that point, we will seek Him in prayer whether we are driving our car or we are in a revival, or wherever we may be. We KNOW that we need Jesus and we need Him NOW! Don’t turn away from that knowledge when it comes to you. God touches you and me for a purpose and because He loves each of us.
Jesus, the Living Water, came to us to redeem and refresh and bring Life to everyone who will believe. The Son of God was separated from His Father while He hung on that cross for you and for me and for the whole world. He had never been separated from God the Father but for those few hours that He took our sins…He was. During that time He took the sins of the entirety of the human race and He bore those sins and their consequences on Himself. The pain, the heartache, and the guilt of ALL of humanity’s sins.
He also endured the rejection of His people and all of the punishment of the scourging and the nails and the agony of having to raise Himself up, on His nail-pierced feet in order to breathe and to say the words that needed to be spoken before He gave up His spirit. He gave His life so that we could have an abundant eternal life with Him. It isn’t a promise of wealth or privilege, it is much more than that. It is the promise of eternity in His Presence. Don’t turn away from Him when you feel His call on your heart and your life. Drink deeply of the river of living water from Him.
Everyone is so connected these days. When I was growing up, we had to come home to make a phone call or use a very antiquated device called a “payphone”. Life was very different during the seventies. We need to remember this in this connected world we have now: God is never out of reach.
Prayer, for a Christian, is a direct line to our Savior and therefore to God Himself. We can talk to Him at any time and from any place. No antenna is necessary. He is always available to hear our prayers and He can answer them as well if you believe. God is waiting for those who will come to know Jesus as their Savior and He knows who will believe and who will not.
Prayer is a lifeline that connects us to our Creator and our Father in Heaven and we should use it to thank Him for today and for all of the blessings that we have been given every day. It doesn’t matter if you are one year old or one hundred and one, God gave you all of this time to serve Him and we should thank Him for it. Many of us have aches and pains and we wake up with them and go to bed with them every day but don’t blame God for them. Thank Him that they remind you that you and I are human and with these trials, however hard or easy they may be, we are made stronger in our faith if we trust Him to get us through each day.
Prayer is useful in every circumstance, whether it is thanking Him for your meal or praising Him for the blessings that have come your way. Even when trials come in the form of cancer or COVID, seek Him as your Physician and your trial will be made more bearable because you know that He is there working toward your best outcome.
But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil. 2 Thessalonians 3:3 KJV https://bible.com/verse-of-the-day/2th.3.3/17248
…if you want to see the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain. Dolly Parton
This bit of wisdom can be applied to many things. In life, in business, in your marriage, or in any other relationship if you want to see the beauty of it then you have to live through the tough times as well. This is something that seems to be missing in our culture and in the way that we, as a country, have learned to handle trouble. If you watch the news at all, you can see that we don’t handle trouble very well today. When there is an argument about anything, someone gets shot and sometimes killed because of the argument. Which was probably over nothing.
We have not learned, nor have most of us been taught, the power of faith and prayer and being submitted to God. In the last forty years or so church attendance has dropped quite a bit and with this “pandemic” many people have used it as the reason to just stop altogether. Why? I would think that during a time of trials we would need God even more. Some are choosing to stay home and “watch church”. Have you ever noticed how the entire family acts when this is done, especially today? Everyone has their phone out playing games or watching videos or texting. Nobody is actually paying any attention to the sermon on TV. They couldn’t answer one question about the sermon.
We, as a nation, have lost our most valuable resource and that is the time that we spend worshiping our Creator. Reading Bible verses is okay, but do you ask God to show you what they mean to your life? The beauty of a relationship with God is that He loves you more than anyone else and He wants to know you by what you talk to Him about and how you pattern your life after His Son. He already knows you in minute detail but He wants to hear you ask Him for the things that are dear to your heart. Not games or cars or a new phone every other year or so, but a real relationship with Him. Why? Because you are special to Him.
God created each of us to be like Jesus but He also gave each of us a mission that nobody else can do. Every father has a mission to raise their children to know Jesus by being an example of Him to them. They are to read the Bible and tell their children about what they find so interesting in God’s Word. We, as parents, have this responsibility given to us by God when we are called to be part of His family. We have a responsibility outside the home too. The people that we work with and the people that we meet should know that we are Christians without us telling them.
Jesus should shine out of our life in such a way that there is no mistaking that we belong to Him. Is this hard to do? For some it is, particularly at first. When you are a new Christian, you want to go around telling everyone about this wonderful Savior. But…your old friends just want you to come back and be like you were before. When you felt convicted of your sinful ways and you asked Jesus to come in and cleanse your life so you could follow Him, your heart was changed. You aren’t the same person that your friends knew. You are different. But you have to work as keeping this change fresh and alive. That is what Jesus meant when He said to “take up your cross and follow Me“.
We have to push the old thoughts and feelings away every day. Study God’s Word and wash your mind with the Living water of His Word so that your thoughts will become more like His. A chapter every day can do this, you don’t have to read a whole book in the Bible every day. But most new Christians are not even told that they should be doing this. They go down and accept Jesus, then get baptized and while they are standing there dripping wet and new in their faith…the church fails them. Most aren’t mentored into the Word, they are like a newborn child but everyone expects them to figure it out on their own. Would you do that to your baby? Think about what Dolly Parton said, “to see the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain”. Teach them, show them, help them to be more like Jesus one step at a time.
Bring forth, therefore, fruits meet for repentance: Matthew 3:8 KJV https://bible.com/verse-of-the-day/mat.3.8/34734
When you have given your heart to Jesus and He has changed your heart to be His, this is the beginning of your walk through life with Him. It is still your choice to turn away from your old life and your old way of doing things, God does not force you to leave your friends behind but if you truly are changed then you won’t be the same person ever again.
Many people seem to think that they are Christians because they grew up in church or because they had an emotional experience at a revival and said the right words and were baptized. You can go through the motions and still not be saved. Because it is the Holy Spirit that should’ve convicted you that you NEED Jesus, not your emotions. Genuine repentance and conviction of your sinful nature will truly bother you IF you go back to living and being the person that you were before.
You cannot be a “little bit Christian” any more than someone can be a “little bit pregnant”! You either are or you’re not!
A man’s heart deviseth his way: But the LORD directeth his steps. Proverbs 16:9 KJV https://bible.com/verse-of-the-day/pro.16.9/2607
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. Romans 1:16 KJV https://bible.com/verse-of-the-day/rom.1.16/308
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Hebrews 10:31 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/heb.10.31.KJV
We don’t have to worry about God striking us down with a lightening bolt, but consider that you are in the presence of the Creator! The One who named the Stars of the heavens and stretched out the fabric of time and space. We are made to be useful for His Kingdom and called to be heirs and joint heirs with Jesus. In God’s sight you are important.
He loves you with a love that we can’t understand. The depth of it cannot be found. That’s why Jesus came to pay for all of our sins, so we could be free from the bondage of sin. Praise the Lord!
