3 John 1: Imitating Evil or Good

Imitating Evil or Good

Our choices in life are our choices in life. There are choices we make on a daily basis. We make choices on who to call, who to visit, whether or not to call in sick to work....you get my point. If you are a Christ follower, your choices should be reflective of that spirit of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, leading you to interact with people a certain way. The Spirit leads you to do what is Godly. So when those thoughts come, do you follow what the Spirit say, or do you make your own decision to do something different. In 3 John 1:11, we are instructed to imitate what is good, not what is evil. What is evil is not of God but what will pull you away from God. When you are evil you have not known God. Why would you know God and then continue to do evil? Misstep is one thing...but a consistent practice is another.

 

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Philippians 1: A Good Work

A Good Work

The work has begun in you once you receive Christ through God's grace. That work is the Holy Spirit working through you to shape you to be more Christ like as the days pass. The time when that work will be complete is upon the Second Coming of Christ. This is what Paul is talking about in Philippians 1:6. He knows that God has started something good in the church (the people in the church) and that work will be completed upon Christ's return.

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Galatians 5: The Fruit of the Spirit

Fruit of the Spirit

How do you know if you are walking in step with the Holy Spirit? Paul first breaks down what is not apart of the spirit in Galatians 5:19-21. He tells them sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these" are all components and examples of what it is to be living in the flesh. But in Galatians 5:22-24 Paul reveals the Fruit of the Spirit. The fruit is love (for God, others and self), peace (with God, others and self), faithfulness (in the Lord and the Word), joy (in that which is righteous), goodness (that which is in accordance with God's will), gentleness (with others), patience, self control and kindness. There are so many possible ways to live, think and operate, but if we are in the spirit, it narrows down those options

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Romans 12: Be a Living Sacrifice & Marks of a True Christian

Be a Living Sacrifice & Marks of a True Christian

There is so much in this chapter that we can pull out and apply to our lives in order to serve the Lord and serve others. Romans 12:1-2 tells us to be living sacrifices for God by being holy and acceptable. That is how we can worship God by not conforming the world's ways and doing what they think is okay, but by doing what is pleasing to God. We need to be transformed by renewing our mind. Then we can test that and see what the will of God is and what is perfect to Him. 

Romans 12:3-8 reminds us that we are not think more highly of ourselves than we ought to. We are to have sober judgement (not drunk with misconceptions or misunderstandings). We need to see ourselves as who we really are and that will keep us from being prideful or boastful in our work for the Lord. Even our being saved is a gift from God so there is no sense in being prideful in that. And we must understand that we are all (those who submit to Christ) in the body of Christ (the Christ follower community/the church) and we all have different roles and need to respect the roles others have. 

Romans 12:9-13 tells us to hate evil and love genuinely (don't fake your love for God or others). There is a focus on true humility when we are to out do one another in showing honor and contribute to the needs of the saints. We are to rejoice in our hope and be patient and prayerful in our tribulation (trials/problems/situations). 

The final section of the chapter tells us, in Romans 12:14-21, that we are to bless those who persecute us. We are to show empathy by weeping with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. we need to live in harmony with others and not seek revenge on people. We have to remember that God will have his vengenace to those who do us wrong. We are to take care of our enemies because all that we do is to be done in love for God and for his creations. 

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Wednesday Wake Up #4

Is Being A Good Person Good Enough?

I have heard that far too many people who refer to themselves as Christians think that in order to get to Heaven they just need to be a "good person." That thinking makes me question what a good person really is. I know "good people"  but there are times that they have done bad things. Then again, I have known "bad" people who have done good things.

Is a good person someone who always volunteers at shelters for the homeless and visits sick people in hospitals? Are bad people only the ones who break major laws? What about people who lie; are they bad? What about white lies? Aren't those okay?

There are so many questions and ways to try to figure out who is good and who is bad, but God is not concerned with who is good or bad, He wants you to put Him first in all things (see Matthew 6:33). Everything? Yes! Everything!

If we go back to the 10 Commandments, we see that the first commands are all about God and us honoring Him by having no other gods before Him, have no false idols (worship nothing other than God), do not take the Lord's name in vain and last, we are to keep the Sabbath (take a day off from working as God did when making the universe). Those are not the last four commandments, but the first four. God told Moses to relay that message and keep his commands about our relationship to Him FIRST. The second set are all about our relationships with people.

Jesus had an encounter with a young rich man in Matthew 19:16-26. The young rich man wanted to know how to get to Heaven. He thought that since he kept all the commandments then he would be able to spend eternity with Jesus in Heaven. Jesus in the end told the man to sell all of his possessions. The man couldn't do it and went away sad because he had great possessions. We learn from this, that no matter how great of a person you have been in your own eyes, God knows more. God wants you to dedicate yourself to Him and His will. When confronted with that many of us will just walk away.

More on that on Friday....


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Matthew 11:20

Matthew 11:20 "Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done because they did not repent." commentary- Jesus performed miracles & did a lot of good for people in various places, but they did not stop sinning. I don't  mean the slip up, but the intentional lifestyle of sin. Unrepentant & unforgiving sin. There is no scripture that encourages the lifestyle, but people do it anyway. Imagine how upset you get when you help someone do something & they don't do their part. They could turn from sin, but they would rather continue to be dead spiritually. Sin starts in the heart.