All in Christian
How do we come to understand the Word of God, and His will for us? Is it by our own intellect, and through diligent study that we are able to piece it together like a puzzle? Do we somehow find the hidden key within it that allows everything to fall into place so that we can stand back from it and marvel at our ingenuity? No, we understand with our hearts, and not our minds. Our minds barely scratch the surface, but our hearts use them like a scalpel.
Do you feel like you aren’t working hard enough at becoming holy? Do you believe that by your efforts you can become sanctified? Well as much as we might like to think this is possible, it is not. If we depend solely on our own efforts to win holiness then we are certainly lost. So let’s look at how sanctification is possible. How am I ever to become Holy?
Do you bless your family? Are you more than a sire, or a dame who brought forth children from the womb? There is so much to raising a family, and all of our children are as different as Jacob’s; each needing a special blessing. Not all of them are presently good, but each one needs to know the Lord, and that necessitates our prayers, our attention, and our blessing as we wait upon God to call and save them. This is our calling, the will of a God for us, but in the end we can’t save them ourselves.
Do we forgive others so that God can forgive us? Do we believe in God so that we open the way for his belief in us? Do we trust in God’s Word which allows Him to trust ours? So often we say “God did not answer my prayer”, but I ask you... did you believe, forgive, answer “yes” to His will, that He might respond in kind to you?
Are you enjoying being in the temple of God today? Are the floors sparkling clean, the windows washed, and the altar shiny and bright? Are all the candles lit, and the scent of incense fresh and pleasing? Can you hear chanting, and feel the presence of the Holy Spirit there with you? Well, it sounds like I am talking about a building, but in reality I am alluding to your own body.
If you are a Christian, and a true believer, then those in the world will hate you. They will dislike you because you are different... because you are a new creation, but most of all because you are like Jesus Christ, and by that I mean “not of this world.” We know this to be the case because we hear it in a conversation (prayer) between Jesus and God Himself.
Have you ever been to heaven? Perhaps you don’t feel that you have walked it’s streets, but have you ever stood on an adjoining hill and looked out over it, and heard the sounds of life there? Right now you are probably thinking that I have lost my mind, but more than likely you have been closer than you think, and in some moments of realized faith, actually stood there. The problem with most of us is that we don’t look around, hear the singing, smell the fragrance, and understand where we are.
Jesus said that whatever we asked in His name He would do, so why is it that you are praying and He isn’t doing what you are asking of Him? This is a common question asked about prayer, and one that causes many pastors to begin making excuses for Jesus and God. The inability to understand prayer based on one verse of scripture, taken out of context, leads to the downfall of many.
There is great mystery in the blood of Jesus, a newness that isn’t seen anywhere else in the Bible. The symbolism in the blood of communion is beyond rich, and gives us more than purification and forgiveness... it changes our lives completely, and cuts us off from the old life we were once living. The blood of Jesus requires that we make a choice... to continue on as we have been, or to drink of it and be called out... made other.
We say we love the Lord, but do we really love Him, or do we love studying and reading about Him? Do we really love Him or do we love talking to others about our knowledge of Him? Do we really love Him, or do we just want Him around in case of an emergency? Do any of these sound familiar, or maybe your relationship with Him is dysfunctional in another way. Knowing who He is isn’t faith; reciting a children’s prayer we learned a lifetime ago isn’t the prayer He expects from you. Open the door of your heart to Him.
When we look at Jesus we see a humble man, and yet at the Last Supper His disciples argued over which of them would be considered the best, or the greatest. This is an oxymoron... how can they want to be the greatest follower of a man of absolute humility; the greatest of the least? It is human nature to want to be the best at what we do... even if it is being humble. Is humility something you struggle with? Is placing your pride and conceit under subjugation impossible? Then turn to Jesus.
Sometimes, when we have been serving the LORD for a while, we find ourselves going about the things He has called us to do without keeping in mind that this is the will of the LORD. When we fall victim to this snare of familiarity, it will bring discipline upon us. Going through the motions of our calling without honoring God, and seeing the blessings He intends to bestow on us as we do His will, is placing our desires before His.
How many churches are there within your congregation? How many groups of different mind, and various agenda, are milling about one another, and often find themselves at loggerheads? This is what happens when we lose focus on maintaining ourselves in the image of Jesus Christ. This is what occurs when a marriage ceases to be of one flesh.
What do we know about Jesus, God, and our faith? Have we read the Bible cover to cover, and memorized key scriptures? Have we taught Sunday school lessons, or preached the Word from the pulpit? Or, perhaps we have learned and spoken on the subject of Church history, and all the councils and creeds... but does this bring us an inch closer to knowing God? My real question this morning is this... “do you know God, or just know of God?”
Do you boast in your accomplishments in faith? Do you think yourself better than another because you quote more scripture, appear more saintly, or are of greater righteousness than another? Well if you are any of these things it is not of your doing, and if you feel boastful it is to your detriment because these things are in you as a result of our God, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ alone.