Split Personality

 

If we live life with one foot on the dock, and the other foot in the boat, we will end up getting dunked, once the boat moves from the dock for any reason. The slightest turmoil in the water will cause us to lose our balance.

God says that lukewarm people - those who live with their feet in two separate places at once - make Him sick to His stomach! He would rather that we live up to our convictions and either follow Him wholeheartedly or not at all.

To live any other way is hypocritical and smears the name of Christ in front of the world. Even unbelievers know how Christians are supposed to act, and they lose respect for us and for God if we are hypocrites with a split personality.

God prefers that we live in total surrender to His will and way. He knows that Biblical principles allow us to reap only good things in life. If we have a mixture of both secular and Biblical ideals in our world view, we end up reaping the negative consequences from the corruption we sow.

God wants us to follow Him completely, and to give Him His rightful place in our life. At the center of complete surrender we realize that we no longer live for our self, but Christ lives in and through us (Galatians 2:20).

Our obedience proves that we actually know God (1 John 2:3). He circumcises our heart, cutting away the flesh from our life, so we can live in harmony with His Spirit and one another (Romans 2:29).

We walk in the fruit of the Spirit by the power of the Spirit, and Christ's divine life replaces our carnality and worldliness (2 Peter 1:4).

Sanctification has various fluctuating tempos in our life. Sometimes, the process is fast; at other times, painfully slow. It is constant, however; and God gives us His patience and fortitude to press on through this cleansing process until our personality and goals reflect and are focused on Christ alone (Colossians 3:3-4).

Prayer:

Father God, thank You for making us a new creation by Your Spirit - with the mind and divinity of Christ abiding in us. Keep us in union with Your Spirit and hold us close to You as You use us to further Your Kingdom in the earth (Galatians 5:15-25).

Our spirituality is not complete until You give us our glorified, immortal body when we see Jesus. We need You every hour, every moment of our life. Teach us not to speak with words of carnal, mortal wisdom, but to utter only the Words taught to us by Your Spirit and full of Your glory (Philippians 3:10-12; 1 Corinthians 2:13).

Thought for the Day:

Our goal in life is to bring God glory through our every thought, word and deed, living in the fullness of His Spirit by the power of His resurrection; a surrendered life of one who is born of the Spirit and will never perish. - Peter 1:3-4

Judging Righteous Judgment

God is the lawgiver and the only qualified judge over any other being. God calls us to rightly discern whether a person’s behavior is righteous or not, but we do not place any judgment upon the person (John 7:24). We continue to love them regardless of their behavior, knowing that God will work in their lives.

God does not want us speak evil of one another (James 4:11), but to edify each other. He wants us to share His grace with everyone we meet. In this way we do not grieve the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:29-30). Gossip only adds fuel to the fire of slander spreading rampant through the church. However, where there is no wood (contention), the fire (gossip) goes out (Proverbs 26:20-21).

God uses the same judgment toward us that we use toward others. If we do not forgive, He cannot forgive us (Matthew 6:14). He reminds us that the faults we see in others are actually magnified in our own life. If we condemn them, we are actually hypocrites. God wants us to deal with our own problems rather than to worry about others (Matthew 7:1-5). 

We will all stand before God in judgment one day, and give an account for our self and no one else. Then, He will reward us for our deeds. All authentic Believers will join Him in heaven, but unbelievers already condemned themselves to eternal torment in hell (John 3:18). This can be remedied, however...by turning away from sin and toward God.

In the end, believers and unbelievers alike will bow our knee to King Jesus (Romans 14:11). Therefore, let us not judge one another, but resolve our issues so we do not cause anyone to fall away from serving God (Romans 14:10-13). As we use patience toward each other and don’t grumble, we establish our own heart toward God, and we are ready for His coming (James 5:8-9).

Prayer:

Father God, teach us the balance between those who are spiritual restoring those who are deceived by sin (Galatians 6:1), and judging one another. Help us to pay attention to our own behavior, and to make sure we are walking according to Your principles. We certainly should have discernment and not join our brethren when their behavior is obviously sinful or anti-Biblical, but we do not want to judge them either. We simply love them unconditionally and wait on You to show them Your truth.

Thought for the Day:
Behold how good and pleasant it is for the brethren to dwell together in unity. – Psalm 133:1

I Don't Want to be a Christian!

The word Christian was a compliment and came from the concept of Christ-followers (Acts 11:26). However, I am starting to like the title "Born Agains" better. Sadly this title denotes more of a commitment, authenticity and unique peculiarity (1 Peter 2:9) than most people portray who call themselves Christians in today's society. Christianity is often sorrowfully synonymous with hypocrites. The dead works of most “Christians” give God a bad reputation.

The name of Christ is defamed due to the behavior of His so-called followers, most of whom He does not even know (Matthew 7:21-23). They do not represent the life and works of Christ in their life. When we Christians rely on our human strength and goodness, we constantly fall into sin. We break the heart of God with every act of compromise we perform. Even if we follow our heart, we sin, because the heart is dreadfully wicked and deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9).

In addition, humanistic people in the world have a false concept of who Christ is and what He teaches. They call authentic Christians hypocrites, because they consider Him a cool dude who preached love, acceptance and tolerance, when the opposite is actually true (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). They also call people hypocrites who uncompromisingly live according to Biblical principles.

God’s Word tells us to beware of the traditions of men and of rejecting the truth of Christ (Colossians 2:8; Acts 17:11). God sends us trials to bring us to the end of our self. We look in the mirror and we do not even recognize the weary face looking back at us. That is when God offers us His peace and His joy as our strength (Philippians 4:7; Psalm 28:7). Through the trials of life, Born Again Believers learn that we are not as invincible as we once thought we were!

No one can make it in life all alone; no one is an island; we need our Savior. We learn compassion, empathy and sympathy through the things, which we suffer. This makes us a better friend and Christian. Persevering in our faith in God’s faithfulness helps us to traverse every trial with proven character (Romans 5:3-5). We come out of the fire as pure gold (1 Peter 1:7-17). When our soul enters God’s rest we realize that our spirit is united with His and He is our very life (Hebrews 4:10; Colossians 3:4).

Prayer:

Father God, break our heart when we sin. Cause us to feel the pain that our disobedience causes You. Rend our soul until we cry out in anguish and throw our self on Your mercy and grace. Our failures are simply the result of our disobedience to You. In our weakness, call us to look to You and rely on Your strength. In our doubts, teach us to believe. Lead us into Your truth and cause us to know Your mercy and loving kindness every morning (Psalm 92:2, 143:8; Lamentations 3:22-23).

Thought for the Day:

God offers us His vast resources, once we finally run out of all of our human assets.