This is the message we heard from Jesus* and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkenss; we are not practicing the truth. If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. 1 John 1:5-6, 8 (NLT)
How often have you heard someone state that Christians are all a bunch of hyprocrites? Or some variation of that? I've heard it many times, and the sad part is that at one time I said those same words. I felt like Christians thought they could do whatever they wanted and it would be ok, because they'd just ask forgiveness and go on like nothing ever happened. What's even sadder is that many people that call themselves "Christian" do just that. We live as though we can sin and it's alright so long as we ask forgiveness at the end of the day. This is NOT the way to live!
No, we are not perfect, only forgiven by a perfect God. But that does NOT mean that we can fulfill our sinful desires without consequence. You cannot be in fellowship with the Lord if you are behaving in willful disobedience to the Lord.
Ask yourself today, do I want to further the Kingdom of God by living as pure a life as I can, or do I want hinder someone's spiritual growth and possible salvation by giving the impression of hypocrisy? Are you a hypocrite, or a true Christ follower? A lover of all and treating them as such, and not just a lover of your own selfish desires?
Lord, I pray today, that I mirror your pure true love, by being as pure in my deeds and actions as I can humanly be. Cause the Holy Spirit to move within me so that my life will be a reflection of a true Christ follower. Not the phoniness of a "holier than thou". I pray this in Jesus' Holy Name.
Amen
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Great post baby. What the non-believers do NOT know is how painful sinning is to us believers. God lets you know when you are not conforming to his will, painfully so at times. Keep up the good work. Love you!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment, my wonderful husband. And you are so right. Sinning is painful to the true Christ follower. It pains us because the Holy Spirit within us is grieved at our sin. I love you too!
ReplyDeleteVery nicely written, Shalene. So many times non-believers see becoming Christian in terms of what must be given up. They don't realize it's not truly an act of sacrifice, it's a gift of receiving that changes your outlook on all things. I don't try to walk a Christ-centered life because as a Christian I have to, I try to walk that walk because I have been so blessed by His grace that I want absolutely nothing more than to be pleasing in His sight. Keep up the superb insights and thank you for sharing them.
ReplyDeleteShalene,
ReplyDeleteWhat a good issue to bring up. This should be an encouragement to all believers to walk truthfully and humbly. The history of Christians is one that does not exactly portray what Christ is all about. As he says, they will know you are my disciples by your love.
"By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."
John 13:35
Hopefully, as true believers, we will be able to modify that perception!
Awesome post! Good stuff, Shalene! I always like to think of the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus talked about stff like murder, adultry, divorce, etc. He said over and over, "the law saws..." BUT "I say to you...". When he does that, he is calling us to live a life that is better than the law. He is calling us to have clean, pure hearts. And if we live with pure hearts, then the law ends up being what our actions produce. It's not about following the rules, it's about changing our hearts to one of the highr calling.
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