Self righteousness is not from God

K2K · May 16, 2020

We are save by faith. Our faith has us seeking the voice of the Lord, and that because we need His help. We need His help because we don't do everything right. When I seek Him I hear from Him, get teachings which include reproof from Him. I also get His mercy and grace, because I seek Him. I don't come into judgement, but have passed out of judgement into eternal life.

All that still doesn't mean I suddenly am doing everything right. I continually need to be going back to Him for counsel and advice, which I won't do if I think I do everything right. So I don't get into fellowship with Him who reproves me if I think I am sin free, but only if I am trying to not sin and do what is right. Self righteousness assumes you do every thing right, faith in Jesus Christ is need when you realize you don't do everything right and He can help you.

But let me give examples in my life:

When He came into my life I didn't like to wear a seat belt. That certainly was not the first things He worked on with me, but it didn't take long before He was telling me to put my seat belt on. He was telling me, and I heard it and even sometimes did put it on, but not always.

I wound up getting 2 tickets for it shortly after, and I hadn't been wearing a seat belt for years and never gotten a ticket for it. What's more is that neither time could have the cop that gave me the ticket seen I wasn't wearing one when they came upon me. Why the cop came after me one time was a complete mystery to me. It wasn't because of the seat belt, that was just something he noticed afterwards. The other time he was wrong to come after me. He did so because I he thought I had made an illegal U-turn in the middle of the street, but it was done in a residential and I found out in traffic school that U-turns in the middle of the street in a residential neighborhood was legal in the state. I could have taken that ticket to court and won it easily except for the seat belt.

So I learned to listen to the Lord and take Him more seriously and I haven't had a ticket since then, about 17 years ago. Still, that doesn't mean I do everything right. If you have ever read the sermon on the mount you should know that His standards are quite a bit higher than our standards.

Have you every rolled your eyes at someone? According to the Scriptures, which is according to God, that is an 'abomination' to the Lord. And it turns out that He is serious about that too. Fortunately for me they don't give traffic tickets out on that one. Unfortunately, I am not so sure the seat belt thing was an abomination to the Lord. It is probably better for me to not wear my seat belt than it is to rolled my eyes or shake my head at someone.

For example: I sale some things on-line at times. I had a person ask me for pictures of a new item that I had that was sealed in the original shrink wrap. I only had one. I took the pictures for the person, but they wrote me back wanting a picture of the inside of the product. I wrote back that it was sealed in the original shrink wrap, which was explained in the description. They wrote back again wondering why I could just take a picture of it.

At that point I was thinking, "OH my God. How is it that this person doesn't understand that if I take off the shrink wrap I can no longer sell it as new?" It was just my thought, which got answered by the Lord instantly. He was not impressed with my thinking. In not the most gracious of voice I have ever heard from Him, He said, "Karl, just write back the person and explain that you can no longer sell it as new if you take the shrink wrap off."

That was of course the correct answer to the question asked me, and I should not have been rolling my eyes (spiritually speaking) at the person. So again, I find out that it is not my righteousness, but His righteousness that is correct.

I write all this because if indeed we Christians are hearing from Him, then we must know exactly of what I am talking about. You must come at some point in your conversations with the Lord come to know that rolling your eyes and shaking your head at someone (even spiritually speaking) is an abomination to the Lord, and not even some little minor mistake from His point of view. He judges the heart and works with us to make our heart better.

Anyone (big mighty Christian or not) that does not understand this is not listening to Him like they should. That is probably because they don't want to hear reproof from Him.

He once told me, "Karl, if a thousand of my mighty men are doing something wrong, I still don't want you doing it." So even His mighty men can do things wrong. There are some examples of that in the Bible, are there not?

Phil W · May 16, 2020

K2K said:
We are save by faith. Our faith has us seeking the voice of the Lord, and that because we need His help. We need His help because we don't do everything right. When I seek Him I hear from Him, get teachings which include reproof from Him. I also get His mercy and grace, because I seek Him. I don't come into judgement, but have passed out of judgement into eternal life.

All that still doesn't mean I suddenly am doing everything right. I continually need to be going back to Him for counsel and advice, which I won't do if I think I do everything right. So I don't get into fellowship with Him who reproves me if I think I am sin free, but only if I am trying to not sin and do what is right. Self righteousness assumes you do every thing right, faith in Jesus Christ is need when you realize you don't do everything right and He can help you.

But let me give examples in my life:

When He came into my life I didn't like to wear a seat belt. That certainly was not the first things He worked on with me, but it didn't take long before He was telling me to put my seat belt on. He was telling me, and I heard it and even sometimes did put it on, but not always.

I wound up getting 2 tickets for it shortly after, and I hadn't been wearing a seat belt for years and never gotten a ticket for it. What's more is that neither time could have the cop that gave me the ticket seen I wasn't wearing one when they came upon me. Why the cop came after me one time was a complete mystery to me. It wasn't because of the seat belt, that was just something he noticed afterwards. The other time he was wrong to come after me. He did so because I he thought I had made an illegal U-turn in the middle of the street, but it was done in a residential and I found out in traffic school that U-turns in the middle of the street in a residential neighborhood was legal in the state. I could have taken that ticket to court and won it easily except for the seat belt.

So I learned to listen to the Lord and take Him more seriously and I haven't had a ticket since then, about 17 years ago. Still, that doesn't mean I do everything right. If you have ever read the sermon on the mount you should know that His standards are quite a bit higher than our standards.

Have you every rolled your eyes at someone? According to the Scriptures, which is according to God, that is an 'abomination' to the Lord. And it turns out that He is serious about that too. Fortunately for me they don't give traffic tickets out on that one. Unfortunately, I am not so sure the seat belt thing was an abomination to the Lord. It is probably better for me to not wear my seat belt than it is to rolled my eyes or shake my head at someone.

For example: I sale some things on-line at times. I had a person ask me for pictures of a new item that I had that was sealed in the original shrink wrap. I only had one. I took the pictures for the person, but they wrote me back wanting a picture of the inside of the product. I wrote back that it was sealed in the original shrink wrap, which was explained in the description. They wrote back again wondering why I could just take a picture of it.

At that point I was thinking, "OH my God. How is it that this person doesn't understand that if I take off the shrink wrap I can no longer sell it as new?" It was just my thought, which got answered by the Lord instantly. He was not impressed with my thinking. In not the most gracious of voice I have ever heard from Him, He said, "Karl, just write back the person and explain that you can no longer sell it as new if you take the shrink wrap off."

That was of course the correct answer to the question asked me, and I should not have been rolling my eyes (spiritually speaking) at the person. So again, I find out that it is not my righteousness, but His righteousness that is correct.

I write all this because if indeed we Christians are hearing from Him, then we must know exactly of what I am talking about. You must come at some point in your conversations with the Lord come to know that rolling your eyes and shaking your head at someone (even spiritually speaking) is an abomination to the Lord, and not even some little minor mistake from His point of view. He judges the heart and works with us to make our heart better.

Anyone (big mighty Christian or not) that does not understand this is not listening to Him like they should. That is probably because they don't want to hear reproof from Him.

He once told me, "Karl, if a thousand of my mighty men are doing something wrong, I still don't want you doing it." So even His mighty men can do things wrong. There are some examples of that in the Bible, are there not?

I agree with your "title", and can add that real righteousness IS of God.

GTW27 · May 17, 2020

K2K said:
We are save by faith. Our faith has us seeking the voice of the Lord, and that because we need His help. We need His help because we don't do everything right. When I seek Him I hear from Him, get teachings which include reproof from Him. I also get His mercy and grace, because I seek Him. I don't come into judgement, but have passed out of judgement into eternal life.

All that still doesn't mean I suddenly am doing everything right. I continually need to be going back to Him for counsel and advice, which I won't do if I think I do everything right. So I don't get into fellowship with Him who reproves me if I think I am sin free, but only if I am trying to not sin and do what is right. Self righteousness assumes you do every thing right, faith in Jesus Christ is need when you realize you don't do everything right and He can help you.

But let me give examples in my life:

When He came into my life I didn't like to wear a seat belt. That certainly was not the first things He worked on with me, but it didn't take long before He was telling me to put my seat belt on. He was telling me, and I heard it and even sometimes did put it on, but not always.

I wound up getting 2 tickets for it shortly after, and I hadn't been wearing a seat belt for years and never gotten a ticket for it. What's more is that neither time could have the cop that gave me the ticket seen I wasn't wearing one when they came upon me. Why the cop came after me one time was a complete mystery to me. It wasn't because of the seat belt, that was just something he noticed afterwards. The other time he was wrong to come after me. He did so because I he thought I had made an illegal U-turn in the middle of the street, but it was done in a residential and I found out in traffic school that U-turns in the middle of the street in a residential neighborhood was legal in the state. I could have taken that ticket to court and won it easily except for the seat belt.

So I learned to listen to the Lord and take Him more seriously and I haven't had a ticket since then, about 17 years ago. Still, that doesn't mean I do everything right. If you have ever read the sermon on the mount you should know that His standards are quite a bit higher than our standards.

Have you every rolled your eyes at someone? According to the Scriptures, which is according to God, that is an 'abomination' to the Lord. And it turns out that He is serious about that too. Fortunately for me they don't give traffic tickets out on that one. Unfortunately, I am not so sure the seat belt thing was an abomination to the Lord. It is probably better for me to not wear my seat belt than it is to rolled my eyes or shake my head at someone.

For example: I sale some things on-line at times. I had a person ask me for pictures of a new item that I had that was sealed in the original shrink wrap. I only had one. I took the pictures for the person, but they wrote me back wanting a picture of the inside of the product. I wrote back that it was sealed in the original shrink wrap, which was explained in the description. They wrote back again wondering why I could just take a picture of it.

At that point I was thinking, "OH my God. How is it that this person doesn't understand that if I take off the shrink wrap I can no longer sell it as new?" It was just my thought, which got answered by the Lord instantly. He was not impressed with my thinking. In not the most gracious of voice I have ever heard from Him, He said, "Karl, just write back the person and explain that you can no longer sell it as new if you take the shrink wrap off."

That was of course the correct answer to the question asked me, and I should not have been rolling my eyes (spiritually speaking) at the person. So again, I find out that it is not my righteousness, but His righteousness that is correct.

I write all this because if indeed we Christians are hearing from Him, then we must know exactly of what I am talking about. You must come at some point in your conversations with the Lord come to know that rolling your eyes and shaking your head at someone (even spiritually speaking) is an abomination to the Lord, and not even some little minor mistake from His point of view. He judges the heart and works with us to make our heart better.

Anyone (big mighty Christian or not) that does not understand this is not listening to Him like they should. That is probably because they don't want to hear reproof from Him.

He once told me, "Karl, if a thousand of my mighty men are doing something wrong, I still don't want you doing it." So even His mighty men can do things wrong. There are some examples of that in the Bible, are there not?

Blessings in Christ Jesus Karl! And now I will answer a few questions that may have been on your heart of late on a few threads. Are you impressed with the wisdom(understanding) you have witnessed in here of late? Is it this, or is it that? There is only two choices. From above, or from below. From the Gift of Discerment of Spirits it is easily seen, just as it is seen you are a beloved son. And as a beloved son you have received words from your Father as have I. Have you not noticed that His Words are Perfect as He is perfect? They flow like a river and are perfect. In the same way, in it's season, these very same words will flow out of our belies, just as promised. In the same way a tree is known by it's fruit, a river is known by it's source. Does it flow or are there many dams along the way showing that it comes not down from above. Be encouraged and I hope you get a lot out these few words.

K2K · May 17, 2020

GTW27 said:
Blessings in Christ Jesus Karl! And now I will answer a few questions that may have been on your heart of late on a few threads. Are you impressed with the wisdom(understanding) you have witnessed in here of late? Is it this, or is it that? There is only two choices. From above, or from below. From the Gift of Discerment of Spirits it is easily seen, just as it is seen you are a beloved son. And as a beloved son you have received words from your Father as have I. Have you not noticed that His Words are Perfect as He is perfect? They flow like a river and are perfect. In the same way, in it's season, these very same words will flow out of our belies, just as promised. In the same way a tree is known by it's fruit, a river is known by it's source. Does it flow or are there many dams along the way showing that it comes not down from above. Be encouraged and I hope you get a lot out these few words.

Very well said.

His words are perfect because He is perfect. They can flow like a river in that they can at times just start coming through you, but even discernment is needed there. Have we not read that Satan can come as a spirit of light? And we do not need to read that because using discernment means that we have also come to know that.

God and His Kingdom are all about encouraging others, and specifically encouraging them to listen to the Lord Jesus Christ, and to discern! We read but we know it because we have heard from the Lord and have been discerning between spirits (good & evil). Thus we come to know what is going on. The Spirit of God and the Kingdom of God want us listening to our Lord Jesus Christ. He is perfect, and He is also the One who gives us light to see that we live with both good and evil around us.

So am I impress with the understanding I have witnessed in here of late?

Yes and No. Yes, because some understand that the Lord He is God, so they know that He is perfect. No, because they say Jesus Christ but they think they are perfect so they make themselves a god.

I have come to know Him, and that because of Him. We walk together and talk together. I do see that He is perfect and His words are perfect, but I also have come to know that I am not Him. He helps me in sooooo many incredible ways, but I am not Him. So I point people to Him - not me. And I have read from others posting here like "Not Me", who point people to Him also. There are others who hear from Him but are not so sure. There are some who hear but do not test the spirits, but I don't always remember to do that either. Again, I am not Him.

Yet there are some who think themselves perfect because it is written that He is perfect. Because they say they see they remain blind. They are not the light of the world that shows that there exists both good and evil in this world. They don't think that they have a battle with the dark forces of this world. They think they have achieved perfection instead of one striving after Him who is perfect. Of them I am not impressed, but that does not mean that I do not care. I want to help, and so does He who talks to me. He tells me things like:

TWO MEN WERE WALKING DOWN THE ROAD, ONE TRIPED OVER SOMETHING HE DIDN’T SEE, THE OTHER DIDN’T BECAUSE HE WAS PAYING ATTENTION.

If we were paying attention, we wouldn't trip over our self-righteousness. It didn't save us, and it won't. So who said that if we eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil we will be like God? It wasn't God! Adam ate and the flesh was passed down from Adam. So why do some think they are now like God because they know of both good and evil? Who have they been listening to? Who told them they were now perfect because they know Him? Righteousness is something He credits us with because we believe in Him. If we believe in Him we test the spirits because He made the trees and told us to.

So righteousness is not from ourselves, but from Him. That didn't change when I found Him. So even though I find His words in my heart, I am still the imperfect one who He walks and talks with. Who really knows Him that doesn't know this?

So is that gift of discernment of spirits is easily seen? I walk with Him like a son, which is easy to see. Yet the gift of discernment means "discernment", which is an effort to pay attention! If it was so easy I wouldn't have to pay attention, and that is not what discernment is about. He tells me to pay attention, as can be seen by what I heard from Him.

Even in the garden of Eden there were four rivers, just like there were four trees in the parable of the trees - The Olive tree, the Fig tree, the vine, and the thorn bush. So we need to test the waters flowing through us. We need to pay attention. If we think that so easy, are we paying attention. That doesn't mean a person doesn't know Him. It could be they are not listening to Him like they think, so they think it is easy?

Telling someone to listen like a son and flow with whatever you get is not the same as telling someone to seek the Lord Jesus Christ, listen to Him, and make sure that it is Him. That requires paying attention.

K2K · May 17, 2020

GTW27 said:
Blessings in Christ Jesus Karl! And now I will answer a few questions that may have been on your heart of late on a few threads. Are you impressed with the wisdom(understanding) you have witnessed in here of late? Is it this, or is it that? There is only two choices. From above, or from below. From the Gift of Discerment of Spirits it is easily seen, just as it is seen you are a beloved son. And as a beloved son you have received words from your Father as have I. Have you not noticed that His Words are Perfect as He is perfect? They flow like a river and are perfect. In the same way, in it's season, these very same words will flow out of our belies, just as promised. In the same way a tree is known by it's fruit, a river is known by it's source. Does it flow or are there many dams along the way showing that it comes not down from above. Be encouraged and I hope you get a lot out these few words.

Very well said.

His words are perfect because He is perfect. They can flow like a river in that they can at times just start coming through you, but even discernment is needed there. Have we not read that Satan can come as a spirit of light? And we do not need to read that because using discernment means that we have also come to know that.

God and His Kingdom are all about encouraging others, and specifically encouraging them to listen to the Lord Jesus Christ, and to discern! We read but we know it because we have heard from the Lord and have been discerning between spirits (good & evil). Thus we come to know what is going on. The Spirit of God and the Kingdom of God want us listening to our Lord Jesus Christ. He is perfect, and He is also the One who gives us light to see that we live with both good and evil around us.

So am I impress with the understanding I have witnessed in here of late?

Yes and No. Yes, because some understand that the Lord He is God, so they know that He is perfect. No, because they say Jesus Christ but they think they are perfect so they make themselves a god.

I have come to know Him, and that because of Him. We walk together and talk together. I do see that He is perfect and His words are perfect, but I also have come to know that I am not Him. He helps me in sooooo many incredible ways, but I am not Him. So I point people to Him - not me. And I have read from others posting here like "Not Me", who point people to Him also. There are others who hear from Him but are not so sure. There are some who hear but do not test the spirits, but I don't always remember to do that either. Again, I am not Him.

Yet there are some who think themselves perfect because it is written that He is perfect. Because they say they see they remain blind. They are not the light of the world that shows that there exists both good and evil in this world. They don't think that they have a battle with the dark forces of this world. They think they have achieved perfection instead of one striving after Him who is perfect. Of them I am not impressed, but that does not mean that I do not care. I want to help, and so does He who talks to me. He tells me things like:

TWO MEN WERE WALKING DOWN THE ROAD, ONE TRIPED OVER SOMETHING HE DIDN’T SEE, THE OTHER DIDN’T BECAUSE HE WAS PAYING ATTENTION.

If we were paying attention, we wouldn't trip over our self-righteousness. It didn't save us, and it won't. So who said that if we eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil we will be like God? It wasn't God! Adam ate and the flesh was passed down from Adam. So why do some think they are now like God because they know of both good and evil? Who have they been listening to? Who told them they were now perfect because they know Him? Righteousness is something He credits us with because we believe in Him. If we believe in Him we test the spirits because He made the trees and told us to.

So righteousness is not from ourselves, but from Him. That didn't change when I found Him. So even though I find His words in my heart, I am still the imperfect one who He walks and talks with. Who really knows Him that doesn't know this?

So is that gift of discernment of spirits is easily seen? I walk with Him like a son, which is easy to see. Yet the gift of discernment means "discernment", which is an effort to pay attention! If it was so easy I wouldn't have to pay attention, and that is not what discernment is about. He tells me to pay attention, as can be seen by what I heard from Him.

Even in the garden of Eden there were four rivers, just like there were four trees in the parable of the trees - The Olive tree, the Fig tree, the vine, and the thorn bush. So we need to test the waters flowing through us. We need to pay attention. If we think that so easy, are we paying attention. That doesn't mean a person doesn't know Him. It could be they are not listening to Him like they think, so they think it is easy?

Telling someone to listen like a son and flow with whatever you get is not the same as telling someone to seek the Lord Jesus Christ, listen to Him, and make sure that it is Him. That requires paying attention.

K2K · May 17, 2020

Phil W said:
I agree with your "title", and can add that real righteousness IS of God.

Righteousness if from God and will always be from God. So who does seek Him and listen to find out the right thing to do?

Phil W · May 17, 2020

K2K said:
Righteousness if from God and will always be from God.
So who does seek Him and listen to find out the right thing to do?

Those that seek to please Him.
Those that love Him above all else.

K2K · May 18, 2020

Phil W said:
Those that seek to please Him.
Those that love Him above all else.

It takes more than that. Martha was out to please Him and was not sitting at His feet listening to Him!!
Martha was self righteous, trying to get Jesus to tell Mary to stop listening and come and help her clean her own house.

It takes a desire to hear His voice, and He reproves those He loves. The cleaning of the house does not come by your hard work but by listening to the reproof He has. We never did find out if Martha, in her self righteousness, stopped working after Jesus reproved her and then just sat down next to Mary of whom it was said:

Luke 10:42 but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”

So you would think that Martha, having been reproved by the Lord when she finally did listen, would have understood that He does reprove those He loves and then quitely sat down to listen to the Lord and the other teaching and reproof He offered so that she would understand clearly that she made mistakes and was indeed not listening like she should, but now I am think that she probably didn't and went on trying to clean her own house in her self righteousness.

Citizen of the Kingdom · May 18, 2020

Martha, Mary and Lazarus were people loved by Jesus. One the worker bee, the other a listener and a doer that is the only act of the disciples that Jesus said to preach and then there was Lazarus that never said a word. Three aspects of human behaviour loved by God. The children of God told to do something were the examples given besides. Which one do you think was about his father’s business? There’s no bragging rights in hearing and not doing. The glory of the children is in their fathers.

Did you ever read about a frog
Who dreamed of bein' a king
And then became one
Well except for the names
And a few other changes
If you talk about me
The story is the same one

Said Jesus to the sons of thunders

Martyr's Crown · May 18, 2020

I will read this and respond to it later. :oldthumbsup:

Noxot · May 18, 2020

Cleaning your own house is not bad, infact God wants you to do it. if it was not so then why are there sacrifices described that god asked for in his law? Prepare ye the way of the Lord as John the Baptist and Elijah did and Mary was a virgin who conceived of God. man has a say in things though God has the last word.

In the classical Christian path asceticism is what man can do, mysticism is what God does. Jesus himself said to purify your hearts. So we are to do what little we can, it would be wrong for love to be one-sided. We are not a puppet, we are a child.

Martha probably shared her house with Mary. Doing works and being humble both have their pros and cons. Humility is a means not an ends but often the church has turned it into an ends. The point is not works or humility. Martha was trying to take her away not from her humility but from the Lord. Humility as a work is As Dead As any other work. But love does still seem to be higher than the truth. It is easier to have truth than it is to have love. Mary was a recovering prostitute, Martha was probably older. Both were cleaning their house. But some things are more fundamental than others.

K2K · May 18, 2020

~Cassia~ said:
Martha, Mary and Lazarus were people loved by Jesus. One the worker bee, the other a listener and a doer that is the only act of the disciples that Jesus said to preach and then there was Lazarus that never said a word. Three aspects of human behaviour loved by God. The children of God told to do something were the examples given besides. Which one do you think was about his father’s business? There’s no bragging rights in hearing and not doing. The glory of the children is in their fathers.

Did you ever read about a frog
Who dreamed of bein' a king
And then became one
Well except for the names
And a few other changes
If you talk about me
The story is the same one

Said Jesus to the sons of thunders

Yes - It is important that we are to hear then do. That is not self righteousness that is His righteousness in action in us.

Still - hearing is not just about hearing and acting, it is also about learning, understanding, and gaining wisdom. It is about reasoning with the Lord and a conversation between you and Him. In doing that you learn many things, but the foremost thing you learn is that His understanding/righteousness is far beyond yours. You learn that because He reproves you.

In the Martha, Mary story we see that Martha finally did turn and reason with the Lord and she got reproved. Even though she was hard at work cleaning the house for the Lord, and so her reasoning seemed good to her, it was wrong. She was not right cleaning the house at that time because she was leaning on her own understanding and thus her own righteousness. She hadn't been listening to the Lord. As mentioned above, she was not listening and doing. She was instead leaning on her own understanding and thus was self righteous.

Now let us be honest with ourselves, and not deceive ourselves into thinking we don't at times do things wrong! All unrighteousness is sin and while we want to do what it right, we don't always do it. We don't always listen like we should. We sometimes get reproved.

That didn't mean Martha did know the Lord or that He was not in her house. In the same way, our not listening to Him like we should doesn't mean He is not in our house which is the temple of God. So it is that we find self righteous Christians saying, like Martha, that they are not doing anything wrong and have cleaned their house. Yet like Martha, is shows they were not listening to the Lord have deceived themselves.

This is what Paul meant by writing that he did the thing he did not want, but found the principle that evil/sin was present in him who wanted to do good. It is also what John meant by writing that if anyone says they don't have (a current state) sin then the truth was not in them. It is a good thing that we are counted as righteous because of our faith and not because of our great works. Our faith leads us to seek Him and His instructions, but not always.

Now some will perhaps say that they are the Mary and not the Martha, but both were in the house. You are the temple (house) of God and both are found in you. The religious spirit who leans on your own understanding, and the Holy Spirit who does not speak on His own initiative. One will be taken away and one will have listening the listening to Him taken away. One of flesh and one of spirit. One good, and one evil. They are both in the house Jesus comes into.

Citizen of the Kingdom · May 18, 2020

The greatest truth found was found by John (where Jesus abides) and the second was by Peter who stood on the rock in priestly ascension by becoming a living stone, the third was from Mary in a lowly state of listening of His death and applying appropriately that which the others said was not committed to the poor. Noble indeed.
The only heed one needs to pay to God is what is applied to you. Think not that when a budding young man tells you God said to marry him, you will do so w/o affirmation from God to yourself.
Anyone that tries to tell you that they are sent to discipline you has control on the sunny side of help. Self righteous indeed.

K2K · May 18, 2020

Noxot said:
Cleaning your own house is not bad, infact God wants you to do it. if it was not so then why are there sacrifices described that god asked for in his law? Prepare ye the way of the Lord as John the Baptist and Elijah did and Mary was a virgin who conceived of God. man has a say in things though God has the last word.

In the classical Christian path asceticism is what man can do, mysticism is what God does. Jesus himself said to purify your hearts. So we are to do what little we can, it would be wrong for love to be one-sided. We are not a puppet, we are a child.

Martha probably shared her house with Mary. Doing works and being humble both have their pros and cons. Humility is a means not an ends but often the church has turned it into an ends. The point is not works or humility. Martha was trying to take her away not from her humility but from the Lord. Humility as a work is As Dead As any other work. But love does still seem to be higher than the truth. It is easier to have truth than it is to have love. Mary was a recovering prostitute, Martha was probably older. Both were cleaning their house. But some things are more fundamental than others.

Yes- cleaning your house, spiritually speaking, is very important. Yet to do it without listening to the Lord is the wrong way to go about it. Self righteousness is that wrong way. It showed up in Mary when she went to make a case before the Lord that He should tell Mary to come and help her.

This is what we do. Without seeking the Lord we do what is sometimes called "Good Works" which does not mean they we are doing work according to what the Lord said but according to our thinking and thus our righteousness. That often results is us going before the Lord and telling Him that He needs to have others helping us in our "Good Works", which is really our judgement against others. That is looking at the speck in the other person's eye instead but missing the log in our own. Which is the same as looking at the mistakes others make and not seeing that we make mistakes. All that comes under the heading of "self righteousness" and comes from deceiving ourselves into thinking that we don't have sin in us.

So the way to clean your house is to first seek the King of kings, Jesus Christ, in order to get instructions from Him. That means listening to Him like Mary was doing. We do that because we realize we need His counsel, reproof, advice, and teachings. To think you need those you must first realize that your understanding, your wisdom, your knowledge, and specifically your righteousness is not going to get the job done as needed. That again means listening to Him, and then doing what He tells you, which results in the works that James wrote about, which is being a doer of the word He personally tells you. Which is doing things based upon His righteousness, not our self righteousness.

So clean the house - but do it the right way - Listen to Him and do what He says. That is not self righteousness, it is being a doer of the word.

Martyr's Crown · May 19, 2020

This is a good thread. The part which got my attention strongest now was when you talked about rolling one's eyes or shaking the head at someone. I sometimes shake my head at someone whilst I pray to God, and immediately I feel bad about it. As it gives me a wrong attitude, and easily I feel as it lifts me up in pride. I do quickly ask God to forgive me, as it feels wrong to me doing this.

I am getting really worked on by God during this time, and it isn't very comfortable to me. But it shows me everything which needs getting removed from me, as well as what influences I have had which has made my heart impure. Much of this have started in the little, not seeming harmful to me at first. Even though it feels difficult for me, I do also are thankful towards God and I am happy that He is working with me. It has already brought good change and fruits, which I wouldn't have seen happening if nothing of what I have gone through and keep on going through wouldn't happen.

Truly; Every bad thing done, said and thought, even though to us it may seem insignificant, through the eyes of God it is seen as a big crime. He is holy, pure and perfectly good, so it is no wonder a little lie, stealing a little candy or anything else which seems small, is seen as a big crime in His eyes. Anything done with evil intention behind, is what the LORD hates!

Jeremiah 17:9-10

"The heart is deceitful above all things,
And desperately wicked;
Who can know it?

I, the LORD, search the heart,
I test the mind,
Even to give every man
according to his ways,
According to the fruit of his doings."

Citizen of the Kingdom · May 19, 2020

Intent is an interesting word because it gives the position of one’s dwelling place. Jesus tabernacled amongst us and we were made aware of His intention. He was not Jeremiah, the weeping prophet lamenting going into captivity with only one deed of land to his name. Jesus tabernacled more like Joseph, collecting the deeds of all of Egypt into the storehouse. Yet like Daniel that thought high rank and possessions something that was not great to attain to.

Sins are written with iron pens on the tablets of the heart Jeremiah 17 but Christ tabernacled at the tree planted by living waters where His people going into captivity did not. Jeremiah 2:17 A tree growing by the river absorbs all of the nutrients that the water has to offer 1 Corinthians 3:6 to achieve full growth Colossians 2:19 by absorbing the essence from God. Revelation 4:3, Revelation 21:11

The heart is deceitful above things
And it is incurable
who can know it

Even a stone heart can be written upon Jeremiah 31:33, 2 Corinthians 3:3 to produce better from good out of evil.

Exes 36:26
A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

Scott Husted · May 21, 2020

~Cassia~ said:
Intent is an interesting word because it gives the position of one’s dwelling place.

I like those words ... it's a refined/narrow statement ... it's like a well.

GTW27 · May 21, 2020

Scott Husted said:
I like those words ... it's a refined/narrow statement ... it's like a well.

To have no bad intent, how is this possible? With God all things are possible. From love of self to love of others. From left to right, from darkness to light, from tree to tree, and from son to Son.

Citizen of the Kingdom · May 21, 2020

Scott Husted said:
I like those words ... it's a refined/narrow statement ... it's like a well.

Looked at sideways it becomes a tunnel

Scott Husted · May 21, 2020

GTW27 said:
To have no bad intent, how is this possible? With God all things are possible. From love of self to love of others. From left to right, from darkness to light, from tree to tree, and from son to Son.

Dust and the sweat of the brow are great teachers ...

Self righteousness is not from God

Newbie

Well-Known Member

Junior Member

Newbie

Newbie

Newbie

Well-Known Member

Newbie

Well-Known Member

Sunflower Jewel

anarchist personalist

Newbie

Well-Known Member

Newbie

Sunflower Jewel

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Junior Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Similar threads