BUILDING OUR SPIRITUAL LIVES WITH SURFACE DEBREE
Greetings in the name of Jesus:
We should know by now as people who are dedicated to Christ what it is that God really wants from us in our relationship with him. As I look at this through the eyes of the Holy Spirit I can see several words that the Holy Spirit would speak to you. "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor serving the Lord. Be joyful in a whole, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; morn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited". We can go through list after list of things to do for God and yet never really scratched the surface of our lives in digging for the real treasures that God wants from us personally.
The words that I just used from God's. Spirit are found in Romans 12:9-16 and are numbered among many different lists of things from God's heart that he wants to see implemented within our lives. We can actually do all of these things on the surface of our lives so that other people can be fooled by the real intent of our heart and doing them. With each one of these areas of life there is a point where we begin to run out of the easy things to find to build our Christian lives with. What I see for the most part in our churches today are people who are dumpster diving to give to God the rubble of their lives to change and to transform instead of digging deeper below the surface to find the rare and precious materials that God wants to use in building their permanent spiritual relationships.
Our entire relationship with God is built upon the idea of our transformation in mind and in heart into a new creature that has been perfected and fits into God's family and into the perfect kingdom of heaven. I do not believe that those who approach their relationship with God with interior motives that are self-centered will be able to convince a perfect God that they are so special that they can skip the line or the process of transformation. What I do believe however is that we must be changed through our relationship with God to the point that our mind and our heart is in unison with his. Instead of trying to build our relationship with God on the easy and most simple of things in life we have a responsibility to dig deeper within ourselves and to give to God the very best of what is in us to build with in the kingdom of heaven. God has chosen to give us an opportunity to develop a relationship with him that is eternal and which cannot be taken from us. The material then God intends to use in building our eternal life requires the richest parts of who we are, the very best of what is inside of us, and as we give these things to God their value never diminishes and their safety is assured for all eternity. There is a reason as well that God wants the very best from us. The material that we send to God to use to build with will also be tested by fire to see what it's worth is. There will be many cases where what we have built within our own mind and heart may be beautiful and very impressive to the world around us. It may indeed be awe-inspiring to the eyes of men, and yet it may not stand the test of fire that it must go through. There will be many in the end who may well be saved but find the one they thought they were building is of little worth to eternity. We cannot afford to send inferior materials to God to build with because while we can make anything look strong and beautiful from a distance it may be no more than a house of cards in strength. These are the kinds of things that it is important that we deal with now in the development of our relationship with God. I really do hate to think of the many people who have been fooled by the world around them into thinking that all they have to do is just get by when God really is asking for so much more. It is a matter of prayer, meditation, and study in God's word to see the truth of what the Spirit is telling us right now. We will continue this discussion past just getting by through going to church every Sunday, and attending praise and worship service. Our relationship with God runs much deeper than just hearing the word preached on a Sunday morning, that relationship is designed to make his new and transformed creations. May you richly bless God through your life in him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT.
We should know by now as people who are dedicated to Christ what it is that God really wants from us in our relationship with him. As I look at this through the eyes of the Holy Spirit I can see several words that the Holy Spirit would speak to you. "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor serving the Lord. Be joyful in a whole, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; morn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited". We can go through list after list of things to do for God and yet never really scratched the surface of our lives in digging for the real treasures that God wants from us personally.
The words that I just used from God's. Spirit are found in Romans 12:9-16 and are numbered among many different lists of things from God's heart that he wants to see implemented within our lives. We can actually do all of these things on the surface of our lives so that other people can be fooled by the real intent of our heart and doing them. With each one of these areas of life there is a point where we begin to run out of the easy things to find to build our Christian lives with. What I see for the most part in our churches today are people who are dumpster diving to give to God the rubble of their lives to change and to transform instead of digging deeper below the surface to find the rare and precious materials that God wants to use in building their permanent spiritual relationships.
Our entire relationship with God is built upon the idea of our transformation in mind and in heart into a new creature that has been perfected and fits into God's family and into the perfect kingdom of heaven. I do not believe that those who approach their relationship with God with interior motives that are self-centered will be able to convince a perfect God that they are so special that they can skip the line or the process of transformation. What I do believe however is that we must be changed through our relationship with God to the point that our mind and our heart is in unison with his. Instead of trying to build our relationship with God on the easy and most simple of things in life we have a responsibility to dig deeper within ourselves and to give to God the very best of what is in us to build with in the kingdom of heaven. God has chosen to give us an opportunity to develop a relationship with him that is eternal and which cannot be taken from us. The material then God intends to use in building our eternal life requires the richest parts of who we are, the very best of what is inside of us, and as we give these things to God their value never diminishes and their safety is assured for all eternity. There is a reason as well that God wants the very best from us. The material that we send to God to use to build with will also be tested by fire to see what it's worth is. There will be many cases where what we have built within our own mind and heart may be beautiful and very impressive to the world around us. It may indeed be awe-inspiring to the eyes of men, and yet it may not stand the test of fire that it must go through. There will be many in the end who may well be saved but find the one they thought they were building is of little worth to eternity. We cannot afford to send inferior materials to God to build with because while we can make anything look strong and beautiful from a distance it may be no more than a house of cards in strength. These are the kinds of things that it is important that we deal with now in the development of our relationship with God. I really do hate to think of the many people who have been fooled by the world around them into thinking that all they have to do is just get by when God really is asking for so much more. It is a matter of prayer, meditation, and study in God's word to see the truth of what the Spirit is telling us right now. We will continue this discussion past just getting by through going to church every Sunday, and attending praise and worship service. Our relationship with God runs much deeper than just hearing the word preached on a Sunday morning, that relationship is designed to make his new and transformed creations. May you richly bless God through your life in him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT.
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