Being a Believer...the Reality

Being a Believer...the Reality 

Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7 

As you’ve no doubt discovered, becoming a Christian does not make your problems go away. But it does give you an Advocate to whom you can take every concern. The Christians Peter addressed were facing persecution. They did not know whom they could trust; a friend, a neighbor, or even a family member could betray them, resulting in suffering and even death. But Peter had walked with the risen Christ, and he had personally experienced the love that Jesus had for His followers. He knew that Christ was in control, capable of handling every trial and that He wanted to do so as an expression of His love. Casting our cares is a choice. It means consciously handing over our anxiety to Christ and allowing Him to carry the weight of our problems. At times this is the most difficult part of trusting God! We don’t like turning over the responsibility for our problems. We have been taught that self-reliance is good and praiseworthy. We may even enjoy worrying. Yet if we are to be freed from the burden of our concerns, we must choose to cast them into the strong hands of our Father. Peter does not distinguish between little cares and big cares. God does not differentiate between problems we should handle on our own and God-sized needs. He asks us to turn them all over to Him. One of our greatest errors is to assume we can deal with something ourselves, only to discover that we really can’t. God sees you as His frail child, burdened with a load that surpasses your strength. He stands prepared to take your load and to carry it for you. Will you let Him?  - Blackaby Experiencing God Day by Day 

Hope...something most in this world would confess they need and want more than anything else. 

Adam and Eve, after making the first sin in mankind, didn't know what to do. They couldn't fathom the sense of loss of hope. They had no understanding of a separation of the physical world and the spiritual world. A great divide had come that they couldn't explain. A great marring of their existence that they were sure that they could not hide from the Lord Jesus.

For the first time ever that lacked peace. They now craved hope.

You might not think of that first sin in that same way, but then again, I am only the Scribe here- here to write what I am told to write. 

Adam and Eve now understood the darkness of sin and they struggled with figuring out how to hide.  Much as we still do today. When we sin the last thing on our minds, most of the time, is to be found out. 

Hope in anything or anyone else in this world will be a hollow pursuit. A chasing after the wind, as it were. It's in vain, will cost us more than had ever crossed our minds. 

Those in Hell are gaining an understanding of the wages of sin. They are gaining an understanding of the penalty involved with rejection of Christ Jesus for salvation. 

We who are alive and remain until our time is either up, or Christ Jesus returns, really can't fathom the grievousness of the offense of sin. 

But...

We, who are in Christ, those who have come to Jesus, who are born again, are reborn into a living hope.  We find that which Adam and Eve sought out.

Our lives will still have valleys and mountains. We still will face hardships and joy. To deal with sin in our lives until such a time as happens to all that we leave behind this sinful body and put on Christ in Heaven. Awaiting either the day of His return to be joined to a glorified body or have it happen at His return. 

In Christ we have access to a peace and a hope the world cannot find.  The key is to remain in Christ Jesus. To keep putting off the old self, putting on the new self. Letting go of the things of this world that draw us away from that right relationship with Jesus. 

The Reality of the Believer has in it a rejection of what plans that the god of this world has for us.  We cannot embrace what's important to Satan and what's important to God. 

We have to acknowledge that which God says is dangerous. 

We have to change how we think in this life. 

Our hope is found only in Christ Jesus. Not in a President, King, or any business or leadership found in the world. 

Our Bible says to build upon the Rock. There's only 1. This isn't multiple choice. 

The Bible says in Ephesians about the whole armor of God. Meaning this... is...war.

Those who have gone through enlistment in an armed service know the reality of being forced to learn how to think differently. You dress differently. You prepare for each day differently. You are being trained on how to obey orders. On how to not only survive in the battlefield, but how to obey orders and advance in that battlefield. In a war there are very few civilians. First questions asked of any who are found in that battlefield are along the lines of "friend or foe?".

You are either in Christ or not. There's no salvation for those who love to be warmed by being near to those who have the light of Christ but will not commit to Him. 

There's no hope in this world to make it a better place. It's a sin cursed world. 

When Adam and Eve sinned this world was the first to be punished.

You who are in Christ have access to hope.  You have a Mediator. You have an Advocate. You have a Teacher to teach you in how to live the Christian life.  You must choose to live as you are being taught. You must let go of what you embrace in the world. To take up your own cross means to do just that. 

The old hymn does say it well...I is Well 

When peace like a river, attendeth my way
When sorrows like sea billows roll
Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say
It is well, it is well, with my soul

It is well
With my soul
It is well, it is well with my soul

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come
Let this blest assurance control
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate
And hath shed His own blood for my soul

It is well (it is well)
With my soul (with my soul)
It is well, it is well with my soul

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, o my soul!

It is well (it is well)
With my soul (with my soul)
It is well, it is well with my soul

It is well (it is well)
With my soul (with my soul)
It is well, it is well with my soul.