Okay, I've had it. Seriously. If I hear of one more Christian whose pride blinds them enough to think they are above obedience to the Word of God...
Now let me make myself clear to any random eyes that have fallen upon this blog. If you are not a Christian, I do not expect you to live according to the Bible. It'd be silly to align your life to the words of a God you haven't faith in. However, if you claim to know and love Jesus Christ, and acknowledge Him as Savior and therefore Lord - let's have new revelation of the fear of our God in life choices and words.
ALL scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness (2 Tim 3:16). Every word in this book is LIVING and ACTIVE, sharper than any double-edged sword. It pierces between soul and spirit, joint and marrow, and judges the thoughts and attitude of the heart (Heb 4:12). When Jesus was tempted in the desert by Satan, every response began with "It was written" and was followed by the infallible Words of God's scripture (Matthew 4). Jesus clearly esteemed the word of God as the be-all/end-all. When you say you want to live like Jesus and love like He did - let's start with the love of His Word, it clearly instructs us in ALL ways of love.
Jesus speaks in Luke 6 of the man who hears God's word but does not put it into practice, "He is like a man who has built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it, and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that home was great."
A famous Christian artist who has now chosen a path that opposes the desires of God, still claims a close bond with Jesus. When asked what the Bible says about this artist's new found life style (with both interviewer and interviewee knowing the Truth of God and His being against it), she replies saying "I'm not capable of getting into the theological argument....There's a spirit that overrides that for me, and what I've been gravitating to in Christ and why I became a Christian in the first place."
I'm speechless. This hits a chord with me due the overwhelming attitude of His saints in denial of what they KNOW to be the Word of God, but their own desires getting the best of them and therefore altering our Lord's words to suit their wishes. God IS love, He IS compassionate and gracious and shows mercy. He HAS saved our lives, He sent His SON to die on our behalf, and He sees us and loves us in the way He sees and loves Christ. He does indeed help us every moment we call to Him, and when we fail Him He most certainly does extend His hand to us. His love is great and strong, but it is NOT an excuse and free-pass to do whatever you will. Christ's lordship in your life is NOT evident if you see this to be case. Jesus tells us in John 15, "You are my friend if you do what I command you." God's unconditional love and grace does not permit us to rewrite the Bible to suit our needs. Where is the fear of God? I'm not speaking of sinning and making a mistake, but the choice lifestyles in pure defiance of what Christians know to be Truth.
I ask you this (and I ask myself as well, because writing this truly challenges me to examine my own choices in life, whether they are as evident as other's or not):
When life is finished, when the perfected Bride (the universal Church) has made herself ready for Christ's return - Can we stand face-to-face to our Creator, our Lord, our Savior, and tell Him we knew of His words and commandments yet chose what we desired over what He commanded? Can we look into His flame of fire eyes, and with FULL confidence say we felt we had more wisdom and understanding than the clear words He laid before us in His scriptures?
I tremble at this thought. Let us humbly ask God to make evident to us if there is any appearance of this in our lives.
Over and out.
With things like that, I think it all comes down to people letting their feelings and emotions rule their lives. There's a lot of Christians who've fallen into the trap of, "It feels so right that it must be." Unfortunately, that's completley not the case. "The heart is deceitful above all things." I sin like everyone else and I imagine that you do as well, but I try to own up to my sins and not justify them or shrug them off with a "That's beyond my pay grade" kind of answer. Sin is sin. Period.
ReplyDeleteIt is truly one of the biggest areas of attack on the church at large right now, imho. The lie/temptation of selfishness. It comes in SO many forms, and SO many people--believers--are blinded to this, believe, and fall for the enemy's schemes, hook, line and sinker. Not that we ourselves don't play a part in this... We do. But I have seen in WAY too many lives recently this complete turnaround from living as God intended, to moving into a selfish stream of pseudo-Christianity. It scares me to think that so many people are deciding to live for themselves under the false pretense of relationship with "a graceful God," when truly they are justifying their sin by doing exactly what Paul told us not to do--shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? (Rom 6:1)
ReplyDeleteGreat job Sarah... Keep on writing!
I think this could be attributed to the last 30 years and the Charismatic renewal. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against that nor despising prophecy, but alot of people in the the church were more in love with the gifts than the Giver. "Hearing" from God started being more important than the words he had already given us 2000 years ago. So if "hearing " from God is our primary means of communication than we can start to "hear" other things. That is why we must constantly check and recheck what we "hear" with the word.
ReplyDeleteAmen Cline.
ReplyDelete