Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Col 3:1 starts with a question that would be a good question to ask ourselves. The reason being that it sort of follows along with 2 Cor. 5:17. Col asks “if you were raised with Christ”. In order for this to be a true statement about you it would have to mean that you had “died” to self and would now be walking under the direction of Him who leads us into all truth [John 16:13].
When the scripture talks of becoming a “new creation” what does that mean to you. This is really hard for those of you that think you were born a Christian or that joining one of those clubs that call themselves a “church” got the job done. Those of us that came out of some not nice things have the same problem buy from a different angle. Just what does a “new creation” mean to you?? If I have lost you at this point I would like to hear from you and attempt to answer any question I have raised!!
John 14:6 (NKJV) 6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
That doesn’t sound like membership in anything or following man’s direction will get the job done.
For those that have had this experience the question then becomes: what changed in you life when you met Jesus and the Holy Spirit moved in to begin the transformation of you to Christ likeness?? I’m not talking about obeying a bunch of rules set up by whatever club led you to this point. I’m speaking of the impact that this had on your heart and what your spirit began speaking to you about the reality of it all. It wasn’t a matter of doing things differently because men told you to. It was a yearning in your heart to not do things that would be offensive to Jesus!! You then tried to learn everything you could about the man and how to walk in His light. That’s the new child trying to mature just as your kids did growing up!! The problem seems to be that a lot of people think they reach a position where they no longer are able or don’t need to continue growing and hey settle in at that point. Sometimes it’s a lack of teaching and sometimes it’s the person being fearful that they will have to give up to much to go higher. Whatever the reason, if you are in one of those places it may be time to deal with all that. In the face of what’s going on in the world around us I think you are going to need all the Holy Spirit direction you can muster in the coming days. For to long now we have asked man’s government to pass laws that shield us from attacks from the camp of the enemy. Well I’m sorry to tell you that it appears it was all a trap. We have become so complacent that we are about to get buried under the coming attacks. You can see from the news that people that call themselves Christians aren’t ready to face the coming persecution because they have always had government to call on when times got hard. Be ready for a lot of the persecution to come from those large [maybe even some of the smaller ones] churches that will go along with the world rather than lose their favored position in society. It shouldn’t be long before we are able to see if those “leaders” are unafraid to speak out when it’s against man’s law to stand up for God’s law. Where will you turn when those you thought were fellow Christians begin to turn on you?? How many people you know and hold dear to your heart will be willing to give up their lifestyle to follow the truth. Will you be able to walk away even from family when it’s time??? Check out Matt. 10:21, it will give you a little insight to where the heat will come from.
I know we all like hanging with those that think-act and talk like us. The problem lies in Gal. 3:26-29. We are all of the “body of Christ” and therefore brothers and sisters like it or not. When was the last time a part of your body [those of us that are older know this could happen] only wanted to hang out with only those parts that were just like them?? Break out of that jail you have your self in and see what the rest of the body is doing. To do that you must be sure you know and understand just what the Body of Christ is suppose to look and act like. To have that you have to be on a fist name basis with the Holy Spirit!!! If you aren’t there yet, find someone that is and let them help you.
What say you???
I am your brother in Christ,
Jim
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