All in Christian
Have we been working at completing the repairs to our broken and sinful lives? Have we been sufficiently separating ourselves from the world’s corruption that flails about around us? When Jerusalem was destroyed, and made rubble, it was repaired, and those repairs were not viewed as complete until the wall that protected the city from the world was rebuilt. What is the condition of our wall?
Where are you most secure, and where do you feel the greatest comfort and peace? We all need a refuge, and a safe place that settles us. No matter how powerful we may feel, or how protected we might think we are... there comes a time when we are uncertain, and fear creeps over our wall to invade our strongholds. This safe place is the sanctuary that no man can provide us, but in Jesus Christ we find all we need... even to the ends of the earth.
Are we Christian to our very heart, or are we only Christian by our own proclamation, and on our surface? It is one thing to be known as a Christian, but as God sees our heart, and our innermost thoughts what does He find there? Do we fear the thought of having our heart searched by God? Are we confident enough in our faith to ask that we be tested as well as searched?
Do you give much thought to the mercy of God, and what He does for us in this regard every day? Sometimes we look at a chain of “fortunate” occurrences and think we were “lucky”, but that discounts the ever present hand of God in our lives. Today let’s contemplate the mercy of God.
There are times in our lives when we accomplish great things, and when we do, we tend to take full credit for them... but should we claim them, any of them, and take even the slightest bit of glory for them? As we visit the high places of life, are we worthy of any glory at all? All glory is God’s alone, and when we don’t realize that He shows us a bit of Himself, and humbles us.
As good Christians we know the strength that is gained from reading the Bible each day, but are we truly getting the fullest blessing from our effort? Are we in the habit of rising from bed, praying, reading the Word, and then going about our day thinking we have done what we should? Well, this is like placing an arrow on the bow string, drawing it back, but never letting go. We should take our scripture reading, and meditate on it all the day long... praying intermittently for more understanding. By dwelling on the Word we are letting the arrow go, and allowing it to change who we are inside.
How often do we praise God, and do we offer Him thanks only when we feel He has done something extraordinary for us? It is easy to become complacent in our praise, and expectant of God’s goodness to the point of numbness. If nothing more, then praise Him, and thank Him, morning and night.
Who do we look to for our sustenance? Who feeds us body, and soul? We are inclined to think that we are fed by the sweat of our brow, or by the application of our wits, but these are just the ways in which we gather up what God has provided for us... this is our part in the gift and the gathering that the Word of God describes.
Are we happy in our service of God? Does His Son Jesus give us delight as we go about our days? The world can bring us sorrow and unhappiness, but when we turn, or return, to the Lord, and concentrate on His righteousness, we are immediately filled with His peace and joy. God gives reason for all the earth to rejoice in Him.
Do you love God with no less intensity, or walk with Jesus with the same vigor as in days gone by, and yet the sense of joy, and satisfaction seems to have waned from your relationship? Do you feel like you are losing the intimacy you once experienced in your faith? Well, do not lose heart because you are no further away from God than you we’re at the height of your zeal... in the days when you first believed.
Death, is it something we fear? As Christians we do not fear death because we know that our lives, which have been well spent in Christ, mean that we will find eternity following our final exhale on this earth. What most Christians fear is not death at all, but the dying; the sudden separation from earthly loved ones, the pain involved in dying, and leaving behind all that we have known. We fear that final step forward by faith into what we have not yet experienced.
Having spoken to some who claim to be Christian, and yet struggle with Jesus having risen from the grave, I am now careful to ask... Do you stand watching at the cross, and do you carry Jesus to the tomb? Then, do you return to the tomb after the Sabbath to find the grave empty, and believe He has risen? In this way I know their faith., because who are we, and who is Jesus without the resurrection? Where is our hope? Where is our victory? Where is our promise of eternity? Without the resurrection we are doomed to return to the grave day after day to tend to a body, and mourn the dead.
Do you say that you are a child of God, and yet you remain fully engaged in the world? Do you find yourself afraid, and so actively engrossed in politics, or social issues that bitterness and even hatred bubble up in you? Who is leading you? If this doesn’t describe you then most certainly you must be leading God’s Children away from the world and it’s frothing.
How great is your love for Jesus Christ? What would it take to separate you from Him, and His love for you. Poets have long sought to capture the intensity of their love, but try as they might it always falls short of describing that pool of emotion bubbling up within them. Our love, and faith in Jesus is similar in that we who love Him can’t satisfactorily express the fullness of our love either. So, how do we praise Him?
Do you get all twisted into knots trying to reconcile, and exercise your faith with today’s world, and political/religious atmosphere? If so I have a suggestion for you; quit trying to live in two worlds, stop trying to serve two masters, and don’t tie your faith to the world’s social, and political expectations. To better understand how we should behave, all we need to do is look to Jesus as our model.