DOES CHRIST CONTROL YOUR LIFE?

 Greetings in the name of Jesus:



  If someone were to ask you if you are living  for Christ what would you say?  If you are a church goer you would likely say " I'm trying , or Yes to my best ability", but is that really true?

  Before we start to make any excuses we need to understand what a Christ controlled life means.  In order to do that we must understand both our part in the bargain we have made with God in accepting Christ as Savior and the fine print in the contract that God signed with us in His own blood.  We must understand the importance of such a contract to God, and take seriously the result of not taking our part of that agreement to heart.

  If we have had much time in other cultures of this world we know that in some places playing loose with a commitment that we make to some can get very dangerous and serious indeed.  While we may be making bets in jest we know that the loan shark who backs those who go too deep with a gambling debt can find themselves in harms way pretty quickly.  While our God is very forgiving and quick to show mercy there are some things that God takes very seriously; His offer of Salvation through the sacrifice of the blood of His only begotten Son Jesus is one of those serious things to God.  In various scriptures such as Jesus gave on the sermon on the Mount found in Matthew Chapter 5:-18: we will find various warnings given about considering the cost of following Him

  While we may hear a lot about love in God's word when it comes to accepting and acting on the decision to walk according to the teachings of Jesus we will find that God does not accept our  turning back once we have begun the journey with Christ.  Salvation becomes as real to God as any court document that we may sign in this world's court systems, and we must be very sober about our duties to that commitment.  It becomes so important that Jesus told us that God looks on anyone who takes it lightly as not being worthy of the sacrifice of Christ to the point of never being able to enter into Heaven.

  In many ways God looks upon the life we live in Christ here and now as a kind of adoption process where we can prove our love and desire to be a part of His family by the ways we act and react to His loving kindness to us.  While God wants us in His family as full members He knows that there are always those among us who will not take the commitment seriously enough to allow change in their lives, or who for some reason seek to take advantage of God in some way by not giving themselves to the process that God is asking for.  They may think they are fooling God because He is allowing them to continue to cheat on Him in their hearts with no real percussion, and yet God is not fooled, and He is not mocked .

  I have come to believe completely that those who feel they can slip by undetected in this transformation process will find a serious disappointment when they stand before God.  Counting the cost of building upon the foundations that Christ has established for us is an important thing that is often learn ed over a period of time.  I can remember when I too did not understand fully the power of that commitment to God, and I know that I had not made the right kind of heart felt choices early in life.  I think God understands that growing up takes some time for all of us, but we must still learn to grow and to  give the needed control over to the power of God's Spirit so that we might be transformed by the renewing of our minds and hearts.  We are , after all, asking to become a part of God's eternal family.  Do you you really think He is just going to take us the way we are without any change in character or attitude?  We have been making the case that God will accept  us right where we are now; and while that is so true it does not mean that is the end of the journey we take with God, it is just the beginning.  Once we are grafted into the vine we then can begin to grow and develop into a contributing part of the Kingdom.  We must also understand that growth and maturity are not necessarily the same things.  Our faith in Christ can grow while we still remain babies in the wisdom of how to live out the word.  It will take all of us a lifetime and beyond to really begin to understand the height, depth, width, and breadth of God's love and purpose for us.

  The kind of control that God needs to have is complete, but it is not robotic.  Just like the love we give to God; this control must be given freely from our heart to His.  This is the only way that love for Christ or our living sacrifice can be perfected in the Spirit.  God does not care how much time in our life it takes for that to happen; it just needs to happen here and now as we live this life. Most of us have a very misguided concept of running a race of endurance, and in this case helping as many finish the course with us is what counts.  May you richly bless God through your life in Him.



THE UNWORTHY SERVANT