All day today I have been wondering what I would write about. There are so many topics in my head yet I can't seem to get all my thoughts together. Each day it seems the Lord reveals something new to me through His Word. One thing that daily tugs at my heart are thoughts of the lost. By “lost” I mean those who are not saved, or “think” they are saved yet never produce fruit of their salvation. I must say that the former I have compassion with, and the latter I become angry with. Those that are lost I feel a huge sense of love for them. They are literally the “walking dead”. Those who “say” they are saved, yet are NOT living like it, dishonor the Word of God. This outrages me! These people have no clue of the damage they are doing to those who are lost. They make a mockery out of Christ's death. These people are going to be the ones that the Lord says “depart from me for I never knew you”. (Matthew 7:23 and Luke 13:27) What I have realized is that not only are these “fruitless so called Christians” deceiving the world, they are deceiving themselves if they think they will partake in the Kingdom of God. All throughout the New Testament we are given “ear marks” of how a true follower of Christ will live their life. I believe this was for a purpose. I believe it was so that we would be able to “rightly judge” between a believer and a counterfeit. (John 7:24, 1 Corinthians 6:2-3)
It seems in our world today people are more concerned with “keeping peace” and stroking others' egos. Christians feel timid or unable to “call someone out”. We were not given a spirit of timidity! (2 Timothy 1:7) The enemy seeks to divide, conquer and destroy all that Glorifies the Lord! (1 Peter 5:8) There are false teachings everywhere. If there are false teachers wouldn't it make sense that there are “false believers”? (2 Peter 2:1) We don't have to go around yelling and screaming and pointing fingers at those who are being deceitful. We live an upright life using the Word of God as our standard. (Acts 10:35)
What about love? Love is an action! We wouldn't know love if it hadn't been for the ACTION of Christ allowing Himself to be offered up as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. We should correct others in love. Do you think Jesus was correcting the Pharisees in love? ABSOLUTELY! He has a love for the lost, and was correcting the Pharisees in such a harsh way as to expose their error. He did this to keep others from falling prey to the enemies lies! He did this out of much love! A true love does not and will not compromise what is right in order to avoid being rejected or stepping on one's toes. What does Jesus say about having peace on Earth? (Matthew 10:34, Luke 12:51)
“"Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” Matthew 10:34
“"Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division;” Luke 12:51
So how do we have peace? Only through Jesus Christ can we have peace. Even when this world is cruel and life brings tribulation, we as believers have a “peace that surpasses all understanding”! (Philippians 4:7) This does not however mean that there will be peace between believers and unbelievers. What conversation does light have with darkness?
“Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?” 2 Corinthians 6:14
We need to remember that we are to be noticeably separate from those who are unbelievers, or those who claim to be believers yet have no fruit of it, and have no intention of living according to the standards of Christ. I think it would be safe to say that if there is a person who claims to be a Christian yet seems to become resentful that all you can talk about is the Lord, then they may not be saved. If a person who claims to be a believer makes remarks like, “The scriptures are a cultural thing and it isn't very practical to live my life by it”, they may not be regenerated. Being a Christian isn't a “social club” where once you say the “sinner's prayer” you get your handy dandy “Get Out Of Hell Free Card”. The life of the Christian is marked by submitting one's life completely to the Lord and to His commandments. Once saved your new life and your old life should be noticeably different. If you are saved, yet your life and way of thinking are still that of the “old self”, then you need to check your spiritual pulse and search the scriptures to make sure you had a true conversion and understanding of what it means to be “crucified with Christ”.
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” Galatians 2:20
All that I can talk about is the Lord. His Word is ever present in my conversations. If that bothers you, or makes you uncomfortable or you think that it just can't be normal that all I can talk about is the Lord and scripture...check your spiritual pulse! To know the Lord and His awesome power and not talk about it every chance you get and you consider yourself a saved, regenerate Christian causes me to pause. As Christians our sole purpose on this Earth is to proclaim the Gospel of Christ and proclaim His imminent return! If there are other things in your life that are of more importance that is considered idolatry! Did you know that? Did you know that if you put something above your relationship with the Lord you are an idolater?
This is what Matt Slick the creator of Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry (CARM) has to say in his most recent Newsletter about idolatry.
Flee Idolatry
"Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry," (1 Cor. 10:14)
“Idolatry is undue adoration and/or reverence for something above and beyond what is due to God. Since God is the supreme and holy Lord, he should always be first in all areas of our lives. We should always be seeking to bring glory to him and to live for him.
But, whenever we give attention to something else so that our relationship with God suffers, in that sense we become idolaters. This does not mean that God is going to destroy us. But it does mean that we must yet again turn to the cross, repent, and give God what is proper in worship and adoration.
Therefore, we must ask ourselves where the passions of our lives reside. Do we love our jobs, or our families, or our hobbies with such fervor that they interfere with our relationship to God? There's nothing wrong with being devoted to our work, our families, or our hobbies. It's just that we must always remember to keep God as their center, so that the reason we do our work well, raise our families properly, and enjoy our hobbies, is for the glory of God.”
This is what has been heavy on my heart lately. I see a generation that is void of a moral compass. I see a nation that seeks to eliminate God and His Commandments from every aspect of life. I see a people who are “self servers”, walking over everyone and anyone to get ahead. I see a generation of women who no longer value their God given role of being wives, mothers and homemakers. I see a generation of men who no longer understand what it means to “provide” for his family, both financially and spiritually. The worst is seeing a generation of young people who have no clue of the lies they are being fed in public schools and are completely void of any sense of morality. In public schools there is a policy that strictly prohibits students from surfing the Internet for pornography OR Christian websites. How in the world can one put pornography and Christian websites in the same group?! Morals are relative, “what is right for you isn't right for me”. We have a society that teach there are no absolutes...hence relativism! There are to many accounts of students causing chaos in class, as in recent events here in our town where a male student beat up his female teacher for righting him up for his disobedience in class. This student beat his teacher up so horribly that she was sent to the hospital with a broken arm and other serious injuries. The ultimate sad thing about the entire event is that it was reported that the students in the class sat laughing while this young man physically assaulted this woman! There is a huge decline in our nations sense of morality and the children of this day will one day be the leaders of this nation!? Just absurd! Where are the strong Christian men and women who will stand up against this present evil? Where are the “radical Jesus Freaks”, as they are called by an unbelieving world, that will stand up for what is RIGHT? Truth is NOT relative folks! God's Word is the Truth! It is not up for private interpretation, so it can't mean one thing to one person and another thing to another person.
“Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.” 2 Peter 1:20
We need to remember that we conform to God's Word. The Word of God doesn't conform to us. I found an awesome quote from one of my favorite authors, C.S. Lewis. And so I leave you with this,
“In most parts of the Bible, everything is implicitly or explicitly introduced with "Thus saith the Lord". It is... not merely a sacred book but a book so remorselessly and continuously sacred that it does not invite -- it excludes or repels -- the merely aesthetic approach. You can read it as literature only by a tour de force... It demands incessantly to be taken on its own terms: it will not continue to give literary delight very long, except to those who go to it for something quite different. I predict that it will in the future be read, as it always has been read, almost exclusively by Christians.” --C.S. Lewis
Serving God and My Family,
Crystal <>< (SAHM)
No comments:
Post a Comment