All in Christian
We read scripture and it tells us that laying our life down for another is a singularly great act of love, but how do you go about doing this? Is it a life ending experience? I am going to surprise you by saying that there may be more to it. More often we give our life not in death, but in the unselfish and complete service of another, and if we are the recipients of this kind of love how are we to honor it?
The painful feeling of hunger insures that we will not neglect the nutritional needs of our body. The desire for intimacy with our spouse is a yearning that insures our love for one another will deepen, and that the species will be perpetuated, and just as certainly, the sweet taste of God’s love draws us to an abiding relationship... and our salvation. Have you tasted the sweetness of God’s love, felt the yearning for a deeper relationship with Jesus, and hungered for His Word? Day by day our spirit should long for that familiar longing... for an increase of faith.
How sweetly, and with what love does our Lord beckon us to come to Him. Do you hear Him, and yet ignore His invitation? Does the call and allure of the world drown out His loving words, and appear more enticing to us? Friend, there is no earthly love or passion that can equal those of God. His love is forever, and His passion for our lives is full to the brim with goodness and mercy... He never disappoints.
Do you get what you pray for? Does God answer you word for word in all those things that you would have Him do in your prayers? Our prayers and God’s will do more than just go hand in hand; their fingers are interwoven so tightly that these two hands are inseparable. This determines the success of our prayer lives. So how we pray should be exactly as we should live... in the will of God.
Who is ultimately responsible for your salvation? Who do you look to to guide you through faith and into eternity with God? It is so easy to lean on our religion, look to our individual churches, or denominations, and even some trusted persons of faith, to provide us with the truth, but when it comes right down to our faith and salvation we alone have the responsibility for believing, and what we have faith in must be discerned, and determined by us. No other man except the risen Christ can bring us to God. No other spirit than the Holy Spirit can guide us.
It is one thing to say we are Christians, and that Jesus is our Lord, but until we take on His image, and walk as He walked, then we have missed the mark. We can dress ourselves up in all the religion we like, and not win a day in heaven without assuming the likeness of Christ. So if you tell me you go to church every Sabbath, and that you pray each day, or that you have been baptized and take communion... I might still look at you and ask “then why don’t you reflect Jesus?” When you look at your own reflection do you see Jesus looking back?
Are you wealthy? Maybe you are rich in earthly land, goods, and gold, but then again maybe you have been given much spiritually and your treasure is being amassed in heaven. Whichever our fortune is, we should always remember that all we have comes from God, and that His intention is not for us to horde His gifts but to share them. We are not the owners, but just the managers, or stewards of God’s provision.
As Christians we talk a great deal about our sanctification, holiness, works, and other spiritual endeavors; all of these are good subjects to discuss, but never lose sight of the fact that you were redeemed, justified, and made pure and acceptable to God by the grace which flows through His Son Jesus Christ. That grace is the forgiveness of our sins, and we have it’s full measure the instant we believed.
Do you suffer in your life simply because you deserve to? Is every bad thing that befalls you the result of some sin, or wrongdoing in your life? Certainly we have enough sin and disobedience in our lives to make an argument for this, but there are many times when we face hardship in the midst of our goodness, righteousness, and obedience. How should we view this seemingly unjust sorrow? Do we question God?
Do you long for worldly things above all else? Do you gauge your success in life by the physical possessions you have accumulated? Well there is something about our faith in God, and Jesus Christ, that satisfies far more than all of the gold, power, and earthly achievement that we can gather. The secret to this treasure is to set Godly goals, and define what we will do and not do to achieve them...
It said that our eyes are the windows to our soul, but as much as they are the windows, our hands are the conveyors of it. Hands say anger, they say sadness, they say exhaustion, but above all else they say love. What are your hands telling the world about you today, and what are the hands of God, and others, telling you?
Of whom, or what, in our life can we say “will be with me always” with any true assuredness? We live in a transient world that is in a constant state of coming and going. People are born, and then die; buildings are built and then decay and fall. Trees grow tall, only to fall and return to the ground where past leaves await them. Without God, and Jesus Christ, there is no eternal hope... no “always” in our lives.
You woke up this morning from a night’s slumber, which is a form of mini-death, and found yourself once again breathing, eating, and going about your day. Did you jump out of bed in surprise and shout with joy, or did you expect that to happen? Did you routinely yawn, wipe the sleep out of your eyes, and stumble mute towards that first cup of coffee, or did you lift up your arms and say “Thank you Father for this day!”? If this is our earthly morning, how will it be when you awaken to Jesus Christ and Heaven on that first resurrected morning?
Once we have placed our faith in Jesus Christ, who are we then? Our transformation might be an amazing surprise to us, but it is far from surprising to God. He foresaw our adoption as sons and daughters from the very foundation of the world. Are you prepared to take on this life as one of God’s children? By our faith we have become the children of privilege who sit around the feet of God the Father, and receive His every blessing.
Sometimes we are healed by Jesus, and don’t know where the healing actually came from. Quite often we encounter people who have been saved by their faith, and yet they know very little about God, or Jesus Christ. Don’t judge a person’s faith in Christ based on their knowledge, or education in the scripture... Jesus loved the children in faith just as He did His disciples.