by David Brenneman
"Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord." Hebrews 12:14.
"Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." Romans 12:1-2.
"He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?" Micah 6:8.
"Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. Indeed the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; so every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” And the crowds were questioning him, saying, “Then what shall we do?” And he would answer and say to them, “The man who has two tunics is to share with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise.” And some tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Collect no more than what you have been ordered to.” Some soldiers were questioning him, saying, “And what about us, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not take money from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages.”" Luke 3:8-14.
"Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts." Romans 13:11-14.
It's easy to be a glutton and without restraint discipline will never come.
It's extremely easy to go along with the world in whatever is offered today. We have whole psychology courses on the subject. How to manipulate people and get what you want. It's all in how you ask the question. It's oh so easy to take the easy road and not the more difficult, more beneficial, harder road.
People don't see what manipulation by the masses is about until its maybe too late. Not even seeing that what has transpired never had God's blessings on it.
The Scriptures say not to be wise in your own estimation but to understand what the will of God for you is to be in Christ Jesus.
Extremists exist in various so-called churches. Only use this Bible and nothing else. Only dress this way. Only sit where you're told. Only sing particular songs. Only pray this way. Don't associate with these people. Don't this and don't that.
This is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus: your sanctification. 2 Thessalonians 4:3a.
We are to reflect the light of Jesus Christ to this world. Not hide it under a basket. Not to decide who gets that light and who doesn't deserve that light. We aren't to sit in the judgment seat and decide the fates of mankind. We are not God.
We aren't to shun those in the world. As it was written: "I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves." 1 Corinthians 5:9-13.
Any legitimate version of the Bible that you understand and pray over is ok to use. You should at least do your homework and choose a version that is accurate and hasn't been added to nor has had things taken away.
Jesus cares about the souls of people and how they dress matters not.
Jesus once told the Pharisees to go and learn what this means: I desire obedience not sacrifice.
We are in such a saturated culture everywhere that proposes that anything is game. Do what you want, when you want, no accountability.
Being truthful with you, how seriously are you taking the life in Christ that He's desiring to have with you? Have you fallen into any of the traps of the world that you read earlier in this post? They are traps and fall under legalism. The Pharisees realistically taught legalism. They had more rules added to the Law than the Law itself was long.
Charles Stanley's Life Principle: obey God and leave the consequences to Him is founded in Christ's teaching to the Disciples.
You can't expect to fight the good fight as Paul wrote of his own life if you aren't working out spiritually. One hour a week isn't a workout in anybody's circle for anything.
We pour way too much of our time, energy and effort into the world's thoughts concerning our successes and failures than a single thought from God on the subject.
There's always an excuse. A well rehearsed reason for not walking in Christ as we ought to be. We easily choose the cynical route. Choose to accept defeat rather than to fight because we're spiritually unfit to fight.
How do you love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and spirit, how do you love your neighbor as yourself, if you aren't learning what that means and are practicing it?
Jesus came to seek and save the lost...He went all over Israel to do so. Post resurrection stories tell of Jesus visiting various Indian tribes and other cultures before ascending to Heaven.
When Jesus does reach out to you, do you withdraw or do you reach back out to Him? When He speaks do you listen or are you quick to change the subject?
Hopefully you have believed to the point of salvation through Jesus Christ. Having believed in Jesus, do you strive to live an approved life unto God because of all He did to save you? Jesus told a truthful parable on the things people were given that they would be giving an account of some day. What have you done with what you have been given? If you believed unto salvation then you should believe that there is a day we will stand before Jesus to give an account of our lives before Him. The thoughts, intentions and deeds we had all tried by fire.
Living for Jesus, a life that is true,
Striving to please Him in all that I do;
Yielding allegiance, glad-hearted and free,
This is the pathway of blessing for me.
O Jesus, Lord and Savior, I give myself to Thee,
For Thou, in Thy atonement, didst give Thyself for me;
I own no other Master, my heart shall be Thy throne;
My life I give, henceforth to live, O Christ, for Thee alone.
Sheltered lives we aren't to lead. Going where sent, speaking as directed by the Spirit, obeying in all that we do, learning to walk in the character of Christ.
Pray about your spiritual eyes. Ask for you to see things, understand things, as Jesus sees them concerning your life. Make whatever changes you know you need to be doing to grow spiritually stronger. Make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts, its desires. Walk in a manner worthy of the gospel. Don't expect most to understand.
What are you to be doing? I think you already have an idea.
All NASB 1995 and NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission. (C) Lockman Foundation.
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