WHEN GOD SETS US ASIDE
I greet you in the love and name of Jesus:
It is hard not to make critical judgment on the world around us when we know things are getting so far away from faith, and hope for good. When God's Spirit begins to separate us from this world we will feel many things. We may feel alienated by those who we have always been able to connect with in the past. We may feel a direct hate develop from our society in general toward those who believe in Christ.
When that happens to us we must remember the words of Christ at the very beginning of His ministry to us in Matthew 5:3-12. We call it the Beatitudes but in that small part of what Jesus told us He explained what would happen if we gave our lives to God. He began with words that seemed to contradict each other, but as we get to know God we also learn that God's ways often contradict the worlds ways. If you live for God what you say and believe often contradicts what this world tells you to be real or true. We need to come to a point where we can say "That's alright...we already know the world will not understand spiritual things"! We need to be in the place of mind and heart where we are ready to leave this place as soon as we can because we will never find peace of mind and heart in this world as long as we remain with Christ because this world will not allow it any more than God will allow it.
Jesus recorded the longest sermon He ever gave during the sermon on the mount Matthew 5:-7: and during that sermon He gave us all that we need to know about following Him. He told us everything that would happen between us and the world around us when we associated with God, and claimed Jesus as the Lord of our lives. He told us that we must be the light that shines in this world because without our reflection of God's love through us there will be no light left in this world. He told us that we cannot achieve any of the things our lives have been given purpose for through obeying the laws and the doctrines of men. Jesus knew that this would cause us great emotional stress, so He taught us how to deal with those emotions, and those relationships. He taught us about making vows that we can never keep in this world, and the fact that even though we want to retaliate against those who hurt us purposefully; revenge is His on the day of judgment.
Jesus taught us about love, and how to look on the needy among us...He taught about prayer, money,and about worry over the things that must happen before He comes to judge this world. It does us no good to criticize others, but He said instead to ask, seek, and knock for ourselves. He knew from the very beginning that the way that lead to the Kingdom of Heaven would be a path way that was much more narrow, and that we would be forced to make some very difficult decisions about our loyalty to Him verses our loyalty to this world. Jesus knew all along that we would have to bear fruit of the Spirit in order to find that all important transformation in our minds and hearts that would change the old man into a new creature that would fit into the Kingdom, and so He told us how to build our lives on the rock of what He was teaching us...but we have to listen to Him with our hearts; not our minds, and not just our worldly ears. When God sets us aside for the Kingdom it is a big deal...I pray that you will take closer heed to what He has been saying to you. May you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
It is hard not to make critical judgment on the world around us when we know things are getting so far away from faith, and hope for good. When God's Spirit begins to separate us from this world we will feel many things. We may feel alienated by those who we have always been able to connect with in the past. We may feel a direct hate develop from our society in general toward those who believe in Christ.
When that happens to us we must remember the words of Christ at the very beginning of His ministry to us in Matthew 5:3-12. We call it the Beatitudes but in that small part of what Jesus told us He explained what would happen if we gave our lives to God. He began with words that seemed to contradict each other, but as we get to know God we also learn that God's ways often contradict the worlds ways. If you live for God what you say and believe often contradicts what this world tells you to be real or true. We need to come to a point where we can say "That's alright...we already know the world will not understand spiritual things"! We need to be in the place of mind and heart where we are ready to leave this place as soon as we can because we will never find peace of mind and heart in this world as long as we remain with Christ because this world will not allow it any more than God will allow it.
Jesus recorded the longest sermon He ever gave during the sermon on the mount Matthew 5:-7: and during that sermon He gave us all that we need to know about following Him. He told us everything that would happen between us and the world around us when we associated with God, and claimed Jesus as the Lord of our lives. He told us that we must be the light that shines in this world because without our reflection of God's love through us there will be no light left in this world. He told us that we cannot achieve any of the things our lives have been given purpose for through obeying the laws and the doctrines of men. Jesus knew that this would cause us great emotional stress, so He taught us how to deal with those emotions, and those relationships. He taught us about making vows that we can never keep in this world, and the fact that even though we want to retaliate against those who hurt us purposefully; revenge is His on the day of judgment.
Jesus taught us about love, and how to look on the needy among us...He taught about prayer, money,and about worry over the things that must happen before He comes to judge this world. It does us no good to criticize others, but He said instead to ask, seek, and knock for ourselves. He knew from the very beginning that the way that lead to the Kingdom of Heaven would be a path way that was much more narrow, and that we would be forced to make some very difficult decisions about our loyalty to Him verses our loyalty to this world. Jesus knew all along that we would have to bear fruit of the Spirit in order to find that all important transformation in our minds and hearts that would change the old man into a new creature that would fit into the Kingdom, and so He told us how to build our lives on the rock of what He was teaching us...but we have to listen to Him with our hearts; not our minds, and not just our worldly ears. When God sets us aside for the Kingdom it is a big deal...I pray that you will take closer heed to what He has been saying to you. May you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
Comments
Post a Comment