Here is a
question for you, is it sheer determination and will power that will get us to
heaven or is it simply Christ in us, the hope of glory? Some radicals believe
that if they strap a bomb to themselves and blow up others in the name of Allah
that they will have a grand entrance into heaven, their entrance shall be
remarkable but it won’t be into paradise. Whilst other religious fanatics have
agendas that determine where they will end up depending on how faithful they
have been to a set of ordinances, a life filled with work based obligations in
order to enjoy a rich reward in heaven; theologically this is simply known as
“dead works”. But in order to understand this we need to have the mind of
Christ, if not, it will be missed. What of the evolutionists that state
categorically that the big bang is indeed a fact and can be scientifically
proved? Creation must have been a remarkable exploit as God spoke it into
being, was there a big bag, an explosion? There could well of been, I cannot
say with any certainty, but one thing I am sure of, God spoke and it happened.
I see a similar
tend with science as I do with the endeavour of those looking to save the
planet; both schools look to creation for their answers, with many discounting
their creator. Then we have the hypo-charismatic, the one who comes to Christ
looking for “faith- handouts”. Those who believe that Christianity is the
vessel which will transport them from rags to riches and I am not making
reference to the spiritual reality of that truth which will be ours when we get
to heaven, but rather in the precise sense, receiving gain here and now; with
this type of mentality; all one needs is enough faith, or rather sheer
determination dressed as faith; a lot of mumbo-jumbo ruling their world.
There are many
schools of thought which governs individual’s lives. It is impossible to be
neutral in this regard. So the crunch question I have is why are there some who
understand and not others? Is it what we do or what God does for us? Without
rehashing sin and its origin, all I need to say is it sin which keeps us from freeing
our understanding. No matter how you dress it, it blinds us to the truth and
until the scales from our eyes are removed we will continue to grope in the
dark. Without God’s mercy in our lives we would all be lost in a world of pain,
grappling at straws, running around like chickens without heads.
The wisdom of
this world is laughed at by God and he will not tolerate fools. And yet we have
all been fools somewhere along life’s journey, blind to God’s truth, “Jesus in
my place” and then God has mercy on our souls and opened our eyes to the
meaning of it all. The Lord Jesus the first of many sons, wow! With this
understanding our minds must shift gears, it has too. If not, we haven’t really
understood anything.
True
Christianity can be easily tested; ask yourself, why have I turned to Christ?
If your answer falls outside of the fact, that you are a sinner, guilty as
charged and that the Lord Jesus Christ died in your place. He took the
punishment that you deserved. If we are not in that category, we need God to
expose the rot in our minds and turn us in repentance towards Him with no added
motive, except to be forgiven for our sin and our rebellion against a HOLY God.
I understand that God is far greater than any wiles of the devil or the schemes
of men; at times He restrains even the greatest of schemes and turns them to
His advantage; it here that we witness His majestic brilliance personified as
He silences the gainsayer, saving some of them; “For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of
what we preach to save those who believe.” (1Corinthians
1:21)
However, even
the true Christian, gifted with the mind of Christ battles to let go of this
type of mental assurance, the “I” in our worlds. Everything in our lives points
us towards these types of mind-sets, the harder we work the more we shall
achieve and many get lost in that web of deceit; sadly these are the things we
teach our children from a tender age instead of pointing them to Christ’s
sacrifice for their sin. Faith on the other hand trusts God for deliverance.
Not only with our daily struggles, but it is certainly the catalyst that will
drive us towards heaven with all its glory. The enemy of faith is sin which in
turn robs us of the assurance we have in the finished work of the cross. When
we do what we believe should be done we are confident towards God and the
calling which He has placed on our lives, but when we stumble and fall, what
then? This is where we are weakened and where we learn the most, at the feet of
Jesus.
Here is a
conclusion that we cannot afford to miss; God has great compassion towards the
humble, but He resists the proud. We have a natural tendency to become filled
with pride when we outdo the person next to us. It is something that
continuously needs to be checked in our lives.
As schooled as
David was, it is obvious that he understood the work of God in his life as the
most important factor throughout his lifetime. Could this have been the reason
why God had this to say about him, “he is a man after my own heart”? And yet
David understood that if God didn’t change him, he couldn’t change himself.
David needed Gods voice to ring clear in his ears prior to entering the battles
of life. How do we compare? We need to be continually reminded that we are but
clay in the potter’s hands. We need to constantly cry out to the One who has
the power to change us, we must cry out to our heavenly Father, “Abba Father,
renew a right spirit within me”. In other words please change who I am, remove
the arrogance that looks to dominate. This is a type of prayer that I believe
James refers to in accordance to the will of God. It’s not about our lusts, but
its all about change and conformity into the Lord Jesus’ character. God favours
these types of prayers and He will grant them because it will always be in
accordance to His will if we look to be changed into our Saviours character.
The next hurdle
that rears its head is “balance”; we are taught that “balance” is healthy. Too
much of something causes distortion; eat too much starch and we will soon
become unproportioned. Go to gym and only ever train a single muscle group and
we will look odd. Our minds have been geared to believe these laws as
conclusive. It’s the world we live in. Sadly we do not leave this type of
reasoning behind after our eyes have been opened to heaven. But thankfully,
Christianity may begin on earth but is will last into eternity, with the only
true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as our Father forever and ever,
Amen!
Salvation begun
with the mercy of God and it will remain that way for all eternity, we having
nothing to boast about and yet there is so much bragging, even when played down
with modesty. David understood this, because God gave him his understanding,
may God teach us this lesson well and also give us understanding. He is the
potter we are but clay in His hands. How does choice then play out? If we are
programmed right we will chose right. It’s a virus that looks to get software
to make bad choices and play up. “If God is for us who can be against us?”
Once our minds
are spiritually opened to our heavenly calling, once we are born again, chaos
infiltrates the things we once believed. Change becomes the order of the day.
We stop drinking and swearing, just to mention the obvious. But what about a
persons work ethic and many other areas of our lives? In short, when we
understand that we had been destined to hell because of our sin our lifestyles
begin to change. Without sound doctrine and God’s intervention in our lives,
which moulds us into Christ’s image we will continue to make similar mistakes
which may leave us looking different on the outside, whilst been driven to be
Christian like in character and ambitious with parallel intentions without an
inward change. Leaving us filled with pride as we outdo the person next to us.
We forget that it is the Christ in us who has caused the change. We become
knockoffs of the original and hypocrisy is our lot in life until God opens our
eyes to our error, praise His name, Amen!
It’s the
goodness of God that leads a person to salvation in true repentance and let us
never overlook that truth, for when we do, pride is not far from us and we know
what will follow, the resistance of God in our lives. Grace is what is needed
to combat the filth of this world; therefore we must be kept humble. Thank you
Abba Father for you persistent work in our lives, thank you for you
intercession my great Saviour and thank you Holy Spirit for your comfort and
the way you constantly remind us about your truth.
Signing off
Tyrone
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