Wednesday, April 20, 2016

C'MON MAN - Really?

People generally refuse to recognize that sin is a fact of life, and we ALL fall short, even baptized Christians. The grief Jesus bore cannot be compared to what we suffer here on earth. All the past, present, and future sins of all humanity crushed Jesus to the point of grieving blood droplets in the garden of Gethsemane.  People cannot associate with the kind of grief Jesus endured.  C'mon man, what do we really grieve? Jesus lost friends and family members as a result of His ministry. Like King David, we too grieve the loss of a loved ones, and our good friends. "grieve for you, Jonathan my brother; you were very dear to me." 2 Samuel 1:26 -- QUESTION: Do you think we also grieve the Holy Spirit when He pricks our conscious with guilt and we choose not to confess any sin?  Do we love ALL, as we are loved?  Is'nt that a command of God?  There are Christians who claim they have surrendered all to God and that they have become new creatures in Christ, however, they choose NOT to completely obey His word.  Do Christians continually pray and “Praise God in all things”? Does their reasoning mind, at times, tell their belief system that God does NOT care and He does NOT listen to their laments? Do they confess that unbelief?  "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions." Psalm 51:1
Do they continue to go to church, without fully believing that they are loved, forgiven and saved?  Do they ALWAYS fully trust that God is just in all His ways? Or...on their own, do they simply attempt to control their bits of unbelief from surfacing?  Do they live in denial, or do they admit that they hurt and struggle at times? Or, do they simply smile and continue to boast “Jesus is Lord" while doubting?  Do they really trust that they are covered by grace and that confessing sin is not really necessary, because they got the Holy Spirit, they got baptized, and they are good to go? Do they think that they intimately KNOW God because they have memorized some scripture? Reading first John should shed some light on thia self-centered thinking, but without asking and trusting the Holy Spirit to reveal truth in scripture, they continue to justify that they know God and say flatly “I am not a sinner”  The truth is: Christian or not, a rational mind filled with scholarly intelligence generally denies any need of a dependency on God.  So the sin nature of man’s proud mind keeps them blind to the truth.  Believing “Jesus is Lord” is not enough.  We must also confess our sins, surrender our ways, and trust and obey His living and active Word.  Having the mind of Christ is to surrender our thoughts to His way, His will, and His word.  “If sin rules in me, God’s life in me will be killed; if God rules in me, sin in me will be killed. What was true in the history of God on earth will also be true in your history and in mine— that is, sin will kill the life of God in us. All must bring themselves to terms with the fact that we all sin. Continued sin is the only explanation why Jesus Christ came to earth.” Oswald Chambers "Let us confess our sins to one another so that we may be healed." James 4 - Reveal any unholy thing or thought in me Lord!  AMEN

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