G
gideons300
Guest
It is an interesting question, no? What exactly is our "mission" as we live out our Christian walk here on earth? We get saved, find a good church. Then what? 40 years of Sunday services, pastoral changes, get married, raise a family, grow old. Endure to the end, right?
Think about it. What ARE we supposed to be doing? Fasting, witnessing, become a preacher or foreign missionary? Go to Bible School, teach Sunday School, attend the next 550 Sunday services? Those are all fine and good but they are by-products of our calling of what e are supposed to be here on earth, So, what we ARE called to do, or more accurately, to be.
We are all, as children of the king, given the honor of "growing up into Him in all things". We are all called to become Christ-like, not by imitation but by infilling and abiding in Him and Him in us by faith. We are called to be witnesses to a lost and evil-infected world not by our words as much as by our presence, our fullness with God's son, Christ IN us, the hope of glory.
So I will ask you what I had to ask myself. How is my "project", my assignment, my task here on earth, coming along anyway? Am I really like Jesus in my depth of love for His kingdom? Am I becoming less and less interested in the world and all that it offers, and more and more dwelling with my heart awaiting His return? Am I displaying the bounty of the fruits of the spirit that only Christ can work into our hearts?
I do not know about you, but when I look back at my 40 years of serving the Lord, precious little progress is seen and that concerns me, not a little but a LOT. You?
Something seems wrong with our Christian model. If it were as we project it to be, as we all have been taught, the older saints would have evolved into almost other-worldly saints, full of the spirit, easily marked by their Christ-like spirit of gentleness and agape love. How is it in your church? In your own walk with our Lord? Is it working?
You see, we get people introduced to Christ by them relying on faith alone in His atoning blood, get them into church and expect all to be well and they will grow into Christ's likeness all on their own with one hour, once a week "teaching". Our model has failed us and it is time we begin searching to find out why this is so, and more importantly, how to really become like Christ.
How wrong we have been. We as the body of Christ have the first half of the gospel, forgiveness, down pat for the most part. But as to the second half, the being changed into His image from glory to glory...well, our glories pale in comparison to what God has clearly promised us. And what is worse, we are actually content to have "just a little peace", thinking that this is normal Christianity and we must struggle with our sins and weaknesses as best we can. That, brothers and sisters, is the lie we have all been fed and accepted as truth.
God said:
They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people only slightly, saying, Peace, peace when there is no peace.
Jeremiah 6:14
Brothers and sisters, what does your heart say? Is your spirit soaring with God, or are you healed only slightly, hanging on till heaven? Saved from the penalty for your sins, but not from the power of the enemy himself in your daily life and thoughts? Again, what does your heart cry out for? Not what your pastor tells you, or your church doctrine tells you, but what does God whisper to your heart? Do you long to be more kind and patient, more loving, more serving others? Do you hate the sins that still seem to dominate your life, the worldliness that seems to grab and claw us to be like the rest of the world? Has your heart failed you at times when the discouragement of living out your Christian life takes hold and you admit that you cannot live as your heart tells you you ought to do, oe perform what the scrpitures plainly tells us we CAN do?
It is time the truth is proclaimed and proclaimed loudly, Christ came to set the captives free. He did not come to put A/C units into our prison cells and give us fluffier pillows and warmer blankets in our cold cells of fleshly captivity. He came to make joy and victory our common inheritance.
This is not to say that we will not have battles, but here is a key question....are we fighting to win the victory, or by fath to hold onto the victory Christ said He has already given us?? That point is critical if we are even to understand how to move away from self-effort (and may I add self-preservation?) to winning the batle by our ever increasing faith in HIS ability to make us like His Son.
May God bless all who truly hunger and thirst after His righteousness.... you WILL mount up with wings as eagles....and yes, in THIS life.
Blessings to all,
Gideon
Think about it. What ARE we supposed to be doing? Fasting, witnessing, become a preacher or foreign missionary? Go to Bible School, teach Sunday School, attend the next 550 Sunday services? Those are all fine and good but they are by-products of our calling of what e are supposed to be here on earth, So, what we ARE called to do, or more accurately, to be.
We are all, as children of the king, given the honor of "growing up into Him in all things". We are all called to become Christ-like, not by imitation but by infilling and abiding in Him and Him in us by faith. We are called to be witnesses to a lost and evil-infected world not by our words as much as by our presence, our fullness with God's son, Christ IN us, the hope of glory.
So I will ask you what I had to ask myself. How is my "project", my assignment, my task here on earth, coming along anyway? Am I really like Jesus in my depth of love for His kingdom? Am I becoming less and less interested in the world and all that it offers, and more and more dwelling with my heart awaiting His return? Am I displaying the bounty of the fruits of the spirit that only Christ can work into our hearts?
I do not know about you, but when I look back at my 40 years of serving the Lord, precious little progress is seen and that concerns me, not a little but a LOT. You?
Something seems wrong with our Christian model. If it were as we project it to be, as we all have been taught, the older saints would have evolved into almost other-worldly saints, full of the spirit, easily marked by their Christ-like spirit of gentleness and agape love. How is it in your church? In your own walk with our Lord? Is it working?
You see, we get people introduced to Christ by them relying on faith alone in His atoning blood, get them into church and expect all to be well and they will grow into Christ's likeness all on their own with one hour, once a week "teaching". Our model has failed us and it is time we begin searching to find out why this is so, and more importantly, how to really become like Christ.
How wrong we have been. We as the body of Christ have the first half of the gospel, forgiveness, down pat for the most part. But as to the second half, the being changed into His image from glory to glory...well, our glories pale in comparison to what God has clearly promised us. And what is worse, we are actually content to have "just a little peace", thinking that this is normal Christianity and we must struggle with our sins and weaknesses as best we can. That, brothers and sisters, is the lie we have all been fed and accepted as truth.
God said:
They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people only slightly, saying, Peace, peace when there is no peace.
Jeremiah 6:14
Brothers and sisters, what does your heart say? Is your spirit soaring with God, or are you healed only slightly, hanging on till heaven? Saved from the penalty for your sins, but not from the power of the enemy himself in your daily life and thoughts? Again, what does your heart cry out for? Not what your pastor tells you, or your church doctrine tells you, but what does God whisper to your heart? Do you long to be more kind and patient, more loving, more serving others? Do you hate the sins that still seem to dominate your life, the worldliness that seems to grab and claw us to be like the rest of the world? Has your heart failed you at times when the discouragement of living out your Christian life takes hold and you admit that you cannot live as your heart tells you you ought to do, oe perform what the scrpitures plainly tells us we CAN do?
It is time the truth is proclaimed and proclaimed loudly, Christ came to set the captives free. He did not come to put A/C units into our prison cells and give us fluffier pillows and warmer blankets in our cold cells of fleshly captivity. He came to make joy and victory our common inheritance.
This is not to say that we will not have battles, but here is a key question....are we fighting to win the victory, or by fath to hold onto the victory Christ said He has already given us?? That point is critical if we are even to understand how to move away from self-effort (and may I add self-preservation?) to winning the batle by our ever increasing faith in HIS ability to make us like His Son.
May God bless all who truly hunger and thirst after His righteousness.... you WILL mount up with wings as eagles....and yes, in THIS life.
Blessings to all,
Gideon
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