THINKING ON YOUR OWN/BELIEVING FOR YOURSELF
Greetings in the name of Jesus:
I find that we have all basically been taught what to think about God rather than to think for ourselves about God for so long now that it is almost impossible to get out of that habit of rote memory and supportive scriptures that lead us toward some denominational way of thought.
In order for us to genuine and real in Christ we must realize that people are constantly watching us as Christians pretty closely. There are various reasons for that kind of observance in our lives. Some are genuine while others are trying to find ways to catch us in a lie or a compromising situation in order to test our faith. Just like the times when Jesus had to defend the Message that the Father had given to Him to share with us we are going to be called on to show the true character of God within our lives as people look at us through a kind of microscope in life...just looking for an inconsistency.
We have been talking about Romans 12: for quite some time now. In that book we find a rather complete list of things that God wants us to know about that message, and about us in general. Among the first is that we are really prone to sinfulness, and that God is completely righteous. God has given us a set of laws to live by which have been given so that we might be able to retain a working relationship with Him, and yet because of our sinfulness we have failed to maintain that relationship with Him. Even the laws that God had given us were used and corrupted over time to fit our own sinful ways, but God is and has always been faithful to us. God knew that we could never be righteous, and He knew that the only pathway to bring us back to any kind of relationship with Him involved forgiveness of sin. God knew that we had faith, and for many of the fathers of the Nation if Israel like Abraham they were counted justified through their faith. God saw that their faith brought peace and joy when all else failed them, and God knew that the only thing that would satisfy His word on sin was have a perfect sacrifice for sin. Paul wrote a great deal about that perfect sacrifice for sin {who was Jesus} in Romans 5: where he explained that once we were dead through the sin of Adam, but now are made alive through the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
God literally gave a part of Himself as a perfect sacrifice for our sin, and yet while we have that sacrifice for sin we are the ones who must accept it and then live by it. We become dead to the influence of sin in our lives and made alive through Christ Jesus into the Kingdom of Heaven. Paul called himself a slave to righteousness in a very real struggle that we all have against our sin nature in this life. This war that we are in is waged through the spiritual warfare that is unseen by the world around us, but is none-the-less very real, and very dangerous. What this all means is that we must learn to do our own thinking about God, and about matters of the spirit. Lets take the time to really find out for ourselves what the word of God says about things instead of taking the word of a book written about God's word. Find yourself a good bible study group and get involved...we have a great one on Thursday nights 6:30 p.m. at the Senior Center in Two Rivers . I hope to see you there...may you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
I find that we have all basically been taught what to think about God rather than to think for ourselves about God for so long now that it is almost impossible to get out of that habit of rote memory and supportive scriptures that lead us toward some denominational way of thought.
In order for us to genuine and real in Christ we must realize that people are constantly watching us as Christians pretty closely. There are various reasons for that kind of observance in our lives. Some are genuine while others are trying to find ways to catch us in a lie or a compromising situation in order to test our faith. Just like the times when Jesus had to defend the Message that the Father had given to Him to share with us we are going to be called on to show the true character of God within our lives as people look at us through a kind of microscope in life...just looking for an inconsistency.
We have been talking about Romans 12: for quite some time now. In that book we find a rather complete list of things that God wants us to know about that message, and about us in general. Among the first is that we are really prone to sinfulness, and that God is completely righteous. God has given us a set of laws to live by which have been given so that we might be able to retain a working relationship with Him, and yet because of our sinfulness we have failed to maintain that relationship with Him. Even the laws that God had given us were used and corrupted over time to fit our own sinful ways, but God is and has always been faithful to us. God knew that we could never be righteous, and He knew that the only pathway to bring us back to any kind of relationship with Him involved forgiveness of sin. God knew that we had faith, and for many of the fathers of the Nation if Israel like Abraham they were counted justified through their faith. God saw that their faith brought peace and joy when all else failed them, and God knew that the only thing that would satisfy His word on sin was have a perfect sacrifice for sin. Paul wrote a great deal about that perfect sacrifice for sin {who was Jesus} in Romans 5: where he explained that once we were dead through the sin of Adam, but now are made alive through the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
God literally gave a part of Himself as a perfect sacrifice for our sin, and yet while we have that sacrifice for sin we are the ones who must accept it and then live by it. We become dead to the influence of sin in our lives and made alive through Christ Jesus into the Kingdom of Heaven. Paul called himself a slave to righteousness in a very real struggle that we all have against our sin nature in this life. This war that we are in is waged through the spiritual warfare that is unseen by the world around us, but is none-the-less very real, and very dangerous. What this all means is that we must learn to do our own thinking about God, and about matters of the spirit. Lets take the time to really find out for ourselves what the word of God says about things instead of taking the word of a book written about God's word. Find yourself a good bible study group and get involved...we have a great one on Thursday nights 6:30 p.m. at the Senior Center in Two Rivers . I hope to see you there...may you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
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