All in Christian
Are we like children before God, or are we walking in your own independent self-righteousness? Do we say, “I believe” and yet act like we are in control of our own lives? Maybe we have trusted God with our life at some point, but have since taken those reins back from Him, and slowly, over time, found ourselves walking totally apart from Him. Do we know where we are? Are we uncertain how, and if, we can come home again? Well, through Christ we can.
Do we deny the sin within us? Do we say to ourselves that we are moral, good, and that we harm no one? Do we argue that our morality makes us righteous? Well, my response to this is that if we believe this then we mustn’t have any idea what sin truly is... or else we are lying to ourselves. Let’s look at sin further today.
Are we worthy? Are we worthy of the Christ Child’s birth that we celebrated yesterday? Are we worthy of the sacrifice that God made by giving His only begotten Son to die for your sins? Are we worthy of an audience with the creator of the universe? Are we worthy of His forgiveness? There are so many questions like this that most of us would answer with a resounding “NO!”, but is that really true? Do we even know what it means to be worthy?
Today, all believers are celebrating the birth of the Messiah, the Christ, our Redeemer, and in our unbridled joy our hearts are leaping within us as we praise Him. So, let’s listen to this age-old story once again as it is told to us in the book of Luke and as we pray that God will be pleased with so that we will personally experience His Peace On Earth!
On this day, Christmas Eve, we are in great expectation of a tiny baby’s arrival into the lineage of David... He is the Christ Child, Jesus, Emanuel, the Son of God. He will be born in Bethlehem, and a star will shine bright inside each of us to show the way to where He was held to His mother’s breast and has now come to abide in us. Are we ready to make the journey to where He is and to meet Him where He was born into the world; into each of us? In the anticipation of His coming can we hear Him calling us to where Angels were once preparing themselves to announce Him?
Have the things of the world died to you? Are you a different person today than you were the day before you first believed? Have you asked the Lord to forgive you for your sins today and then taken a deep and refreshing breath of relief once they were lifted from you? Or do you ask for and receive His forgiveness only to neglect the fruit of that redemption, which is the peace, joy, and rest He means for you to be blessed with? Let’s look at this dastardly ploy of Satan who attempts to steal the heavenly peace and joy of God away from us by keeping us spiritually bound to sin and our continued focus on another one of his lies… which is the need for our ongoing spiritual regret and conviction for previously forgiven sins long after the Lord our God and Savior Jesus Christ have cleansed us of them
Are you struggling with whether you will give yourself to Jesus, and fully believe in God? Have you been reasoning and reading scripture without moving an inch closer to actually believing? If so, then quit listening to your own intellect, and still your mind... then open your ears to the still small voice of God that has been calling you to “Come” and which now asks you to determine what has brought you to this place. Hearing God isn’t a matter of intellectual reasoning on your part; it is being inexplicably drawn by His voice alone. So… what are you doing here, and will you come to Him?
Do you know who Jesus is? Have you developed a relationship with God? Are you confident in your faith and feel like you have a handle on it? If you answered “Yes” to the first two questions, that is exciting and wonderful. If you answered “Yes” to the third then you are in for some big surprises as you read on.
The world is five sunrises away from Christmas morning, and the day we celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Thank God Almighty we aren’t still awaiting His birth but find ourselves celebrating that which has already come! As I do on the birthdays of my own children, I find myself reminiscing and thinking back to that day when Jesus was born and I hope that it brings the same tears to you that is does to my eyes. Jesus is with us always, every minute, day, and week... so I invite you to listen as I praise Him in verse, and to join with me by reading and praying these words of joyous praise...
As we move towards a godly state of righteousness we shed one sin after another until at last we are down to our pet sins... those that give us personal pleasure or reduce the pain of living in some way. When we reach this point, and we refuse to let these sins go, then our relationship with God stalls, and we feel a growing separation from Jesus. This can happen early on in our walk of faith, but usually it occurs once all the low hanging sinful fruit has been plucked from us. These deeply rooted personal sins require a specialized spiritual surgery to extract them.
Do we trust God enough to allow ourselves to be used unconditionally to accomplish His good will? Do we believe that He brings bad situations upon us, or do we believe He uses us amidst bad situations for His good purposes?
Hearing the gospel and having it fall on fertile ground within us creates a need for its peace and joy deep inside that is unquenchable. Is this how you are feeling inside? Are you one of those souls in which the gospel of Jesus Christ has found a slight furrow into which its seed has fallen and taken root? If so then despite the season of life you find yourself in, you will be irresistibly called to tend it... time and time again, day after day, you will water and admire it until it begins to bear the sweet fruit of Christ. For all the others of us there will be only darkness and a withering spirit.
Are you completely dressed and ready for the day, or have you professed your belief in God and Jesus Christ, but not clothed yourself in those things they provide you that will protect you against the world? On top of that, are you ready to wrestle with the issues pertaining to God’s will for your life that require you to stand tall and be more than a weak and unthinking creature?
Do you read a simple devotional each morning? Is it one that speaks the truth to you in an interesting new way, or, heaven forbid, one that takes what is comfortable for you and bends God’s truth to fit it? Finding the right author who doesn’t caudal our humanity at the peril of our spirituality is the struggle... for both the author, who might be doing harm to God’s Word, and ourselves, as we accept a possibly false premise and feel comfortable in its fallacy.
Feeling the Peace of Christ is one of the most treasured and coveted aspects of the Christian faith; it is a reward for obedience and is our life’s harvest for believing and living our lives as disciples of Jesus. Do you have the Peace of Christ today? Do you understand the difference between the peace of the world and the Peace of Christ because they are quite different.