I was listening to a tape that my dad gave me last night, and the man preaching said some things that really made me think. The first was, "the greater the manifestation of glory in your life, the greater the consequence of sin." How true this is! When you know God, when you have seen Him in your life, all of a sudden every decision you make has a greater role in your life. Perhaps that is why Christians can get away with a lot less than other people.
People know that God is good, they argue it and live by it. They even get mad at Him when something bad happens saying "Aren't You supposed to be good?" So, as a witness to Him, we must reflect his character. You can see a new Christian still struggling with sin, and be OK with it because "they are new" but the story changes when they have been Christian for years and cannot keep their mouth clean. Jesus was an overcomer, He overcame sin, and as His followers, He expects us to overcome.
It is this principle that He is talking about in the 3rd commandment, "Do not take the name of the Lord in vain." What are we doing when we become Christ-ians but taking the name of the Lord? When we do so, we must begin to change. Here is the fact, God may love you just the way you are, but He loves you too much to leave you there. God loves you, but He hates your sin. He wants you to be Holy as He is Holy, He wants you to be like Him. The Bible is the story of God exhorting His people to be like Him, that is the problem here, the whole fight of good against evil is about weather or not we are willing to become like Him, to share in His nature, to love what He loves, hate what he hates, and do whatever possible to bring peace and righteousness and justice to the Earth.
Here is the kicker, through Him, holiness is possible. It is not something out there to strive for and never have, He is not a God of unatainable promises, but it is tangable, a real goal. Now, we cannot get there on our own, but the beauty of it is that Through a relationship with Him, that is what we become.
Well, I could keep going, but I think that I will move on now....
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About Me
- S. E. Harrison
- Thoughts in the life of a sold out Christian, who happens to not care what people think of her, and cares exceedingly what God thinks of her.
1 comment:
Thank you for sharing. I like talking to family and friends about the joy of God, but I also feal pressure, mostly from myself, to live up to a higher standard around people I share my faith with.
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