Friday, July 27, 2018

July 27 Thought for the day...the test of a "real" Christian


I am about to really challenge some today!

The great revivalist Charles Finney once said, "most people who attend church are probably not born again." When asked why he believed this, Finney remarked that it was impossible for true children of God to live in blatant sin as many believers do. Ouch! Where does he pull this from?

"Anyone who continues to live in Him will not sin. But anyone who keeps on sinning does not know Him or understand who He is." 1 John 3:6

Wow, this is a challenge to our American Christianity! We feel no sorrow about gossip, lying, we make them practically part of our life style and business. Pornography, abuse of drugs, and alcohol are the norm in some Christian homes. Unwholesome language, backbiting, envy, jealousy are all considered OK in some circles. Rebellion against authority is considered a right. The Bible calls all of these things and more, sin. By now, some are saying, Tim, you are so old fashioned. My response would be, "No, I am living a God-filled, peace-filled, love-filled, joyous life with no guilt or regrets!" The life God has planned for all of us. Sin makes us miserable and not able to hear from God. He is with me every day, I hear Him every day, and He gets me through all the rough spots, heart-ache, and struggles I face every day. My relationship with Him is real, not a game!  Did I make you spiritually jealous yet? This is a clear delineation between religion and relationship.

John the Apostle who understood God's love better than most is saying you can't really be born-again and keep sinning! The word "continues" means to habitually, continue, to live a life of sin, a person habitually living a life of sin does not know or understand the Lord! A person can come close to the power of God, but if their life and lifestyle is unchanged, they have not been born-again.

In verse 9 of this same chapter, John says that if God's seed is in someone, they have been born of God. When we are truly born again, God sows a seed in us that changes our spiritual DNA, part of the very heart of God has been sown into us and we are changed into being like Him. God can not sin so, as He has sown into us, we change, and our habits and lifestyle are to change as well. Peter writes (1 Peter 1:23) "having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever." God's very nature has been sown into us so we should change into healthy reflections of Him.

In Genesis 1, God talks about how each thing will produce seed after its own kind, and so does God when He plants His seed in you! We should long for Him, for righteousness, and to live holy before Him. We should long to shine out His power and life. Instead, we live in fear, angst, frustration, and continue to be defeated. I am not saying I understand why and how God does things all of the time, but I have learned that He can be trusted and that I want what He wants for my life more than what I want. Sin is easy, but it is also true that living a God-filled life is easier than you may think when you begin to believe that you have His nature set in you that if nurtured will change you to becoming more like Him!

If you a struggling with habitual sin in your life, stop believing you have to live there! A seed was sown inside of you, as you became born again, that destroys generational things, past sins, habits, and lifestyles. He changes us from corruptible to incorruptible and will complete that in us when we go to be with Him!

We live in a culture in American that is pervasive with excuses. God doesn't want excuses, He wants us free, powerful, and living in the fruit of the Spirit. Our excuses stop that dead in its tracks! Being a "real" Christian is not about perfection, but maturity. God's seed matures in us, and we become more like Him and less like the world. Our job is to bring life, hope, and freedom (relationship) but we can't do that if we are still in bondage ourselves (religion)!



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