Christian Living / obedience

Doing or Being or Both?

Deuteronomy 6:25 promises if we are careful to obey all this law before the Lord our God, as He has commanded us, that will be our righteousness.image

The Christian perspective of righteousness, right standing with God, is both a matter of being and doing. God requires righteous doing, without someone obeying Him perfectly no one can be right with God. The problem is no one can do what God requires perfectly all the time, maybe, none of the time.

Jesus did obey perfectly and can transfer His perfection upon everyone who calls upon Him for mercy. (more…)

0 Comments
June 3, 2015
Christian Living / evangelism / obedience

Being less so He can become More

John 3.30 summarizes the Christian life: He must become greater; I must become less.image

John the Baptist makes simple both the process and the goal of the Christian life: Jesus must become increasingly clearer to us, in us and through us and we must become increasingly less proud, selfish and self-serving. John arrived at this conclusion because he saw himself as a servant of God.

Our occupation is the redemption of the world to God through Jesus Christ regardless of our vocation. Our vocation funds our occupation but the Christian life is simply being occupied with the work of seeing God’s kingdom come to earth as it is in heaven. (more…)

0 Comments
May 21, 2015
Christian Living / heaven / Judgement / obedience

Spiritual Development

2 Peter 1.10 exhorts us to make every effort to confirm our calling and election.images

Most evangelical Christians define a person’s salvation by whether or not they believe they are going to heaven if they were to die today.

The answer they are looking for is the confession that the person invited Jesus into their lives to forgive their sins and believe His promise to receive them into His heaven forgiven because of His gracious pardon obtained through His shed blood. Satisfied they believe a person is saved because they made the proper confession they move on never to think again about this salvation we or they supposedly obtain. (more…)

0 Comments
May 19, 2015
Christian Living / obedience

Alert and Sober

1 Peter 5.8 warns be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion imagelooking for someone to devour.

The Bible tells the story of God and His work in the world. In that story is an enemy, one who wishes to be like God but cannot since he too is created and not the Creator. His frustration results in his attack upon creation, particularly humanity, that part of creation the Creator made in His own image and which He most loves.

This enemy of God is a liar and deceiver, inviting people into beliefs and actions that promise them benefit but always bring remorse. The enemy of God is an integral part of the story for his role allows humanity to reveal their free will to love God on their own. (more…)

0 Comments
May 18, 2015
heaven / Judgement / obedience

Motives Matter

Numbers 22.32 observes I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one beforeimage Me.

When God’s not happy ain’t nobody happy!

The problem with the One True God is that He cares as much about how and why we do something as He does with what we do. This makes sense actually if there really is a God.

All the other religions, including Islam, place all of their emphasis upon outward behavior without regard for the motive of that behavior. In reality, we all have this propensity. (more…)

0 Comments
May 13, 2015
Christian Living / obedience

The Fallacy of Religion

Isaiah 1.13 commands, Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me….I imagecannot bear your worthless assemblies.

The problem with the One True God is that He is not fooled by religion.

Religion is to be a means by which we express our love and worship toward God. Religion is not God, neither does it’s rituals please God, unless the life of the one performing the ritual is consistent in living a life pleasing to God.

We just finished the season of Lent where many Christians perform the duty of sacrifice in an effort to identify with Him Who sacrificed His life for humanity. I am always amazed how we equate giving up chocolate or beer with Jesus’ death on the Cross for sin. The disconnect seems pretty extreme to me. Is this even something God wants or expects from us? (more…)

0 Comments
May 4, 2015
obedience

How to Please God

Psalm 40.8 declares, I desire to do your will, my God; your law is within my heart.images

Most of us who claim to be seekers of God want to please Him, the breakdown occurs in determining what it takes to please God. It seems only fair that if there is indeed a God that He would make clear what He requires from us.

Fortunately, that is exactly why God had His thoughts, words and deeds recorded and preserved in a book. In this way, all peoples for all time in all languages could know what the One True God requires of us. (more…)

0 Comments
May 1, 2015
heaven / Judgement / obedience

Preparing for Judgement

Hebrews 4.13 warns nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered andimages laid bare before the eyes of Him to Whom we must give account.

If there really is a God it only makes sense that He would know everything I have ever thought, said and done.

The importance of this characteristic of God is for judging all of humanity after we have finished our test; the life we lived in this world before entering the world to come that is eternal and the reward or else consequence for the life we lived in this world.

It is this judgment where final justice will take place and where the evil doer finally gets the full measure of his consequence. (more…)

0 Comments
April 29, 2015
obedience / Suffering

Perfect through Suffering

Hebrews 2.10 claims Jesus, God as man, was made perfect through what he suffered.image

When we think of God suffering we think of the cross upon which He was crucified as the sacrifice for our sins, the payment God the Father required in order to pardon all who love God from their disobedience toward Him.

No doubt the greatest suffering occurred at the separation of God the Father from God the Son when the sins of humanity were all transferred to the perfect One. A mystery difficult for us to understand. (more…)

0 Comments
April 27, 2015
Christian Living / obedience / Prayer

Beating Temptation

Mark 14.38 commands watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, imagebut the flesh is weak.

Watch means read the Book, understand what it says so that when you see things happening you can interpret them properly. Pray, so that the Spirit within is able to overpower the flesh without that is unwilling to obey the prescription found in the Book.

While Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for humanity’s disobedience, this was not done to give license to the children of God to disobey the commands of God. (more…)

0 Comments
April 14, 2015