The Pride Of Life

"Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever." 1 John 2:15-17 NASB (1995)

This is the most difficult Bible passage for me to obey. No other verses cut to the quick of what it means to be holy as these three do. God calls us to a life 'set apart' from the world in which we live. Once you become a Christian, you view people, events, and possessions through spiritual eyes rather than physical eyes. You see a dying world in which nothing matters that the world places importance on, such as material wealth or career advancement.

However, still living in the world, we as Christians possess a dual nature: we have the nature of Christ in us, but we also have the nature of sin in us. Sin is always just around the corner, even in the most unlikely of places, waiting to enter. An example could be when we are in the Word daily, communing with God, and hear that someone else is not as diligent in their devotions. The fleshly response to this would be to compare ourselves to them and thereby bolster our own egos. Pride (and sin) has now set in. In reality, we cannot even come close to the standard that God has set before us, and we all rely on His sovereign grace to accomplish the most menial of tasks. Click here for a great sermon preached by Spurgeon on this very topic.

In the end, as Spurgeon said, the conflict that we feel as Christians is the dueling of the dual natures within us. The struggle is good, for without it only two outcomes could have occured: we have achieved perfection, or sin has taken over completely. Since we will not achieve Christ-likeness until we enter Heaven, we should embrace the conflict and fight the good fight (1 Tim. 6:12) 'till the end, for this is our calling.

Give Thanks

"I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor." 1 Timothy 1:12-13 NASB (1995)

God's grace through His Son, which is given freely, has saved me from a life of sin and death. That is what I am most thankful for this Thanksgiving day. I was every bit what Paul claims he was before the road to Damascus, and I still struggle with sin in my life. It is only through a continual pruning by the Master Vinedresser that keeps me from dying on the vine. Just as a branch will yield to the shaping of the pruning knife, so must we yield to Jesus Christ as Lord of our life, and allow him to remove the things in our life which will lead to death.

For this I am truly thankful.

Rocky Soil

"The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away." Matthew 13:20-21, NASB (1995)

We live in a very comfortable time. The least prosperous among us live like kings compared to the wealthiest from just a few hundred years ago. Not only material comforts, but we have personal liberties that are unprecedented in all of human history, especially here in America. I wonder how many of us will be like the man who has no firm root in himself, and when afflictions come will 'fall away'.

What I find particularly compelling about this passage is the clause "because of the word". Some of us have either experienced or observed people that go through trials with health, lose a loved one, or endure some other significant event. Some Christians blame God and fall away from the faith because of these events, and this is truly sad, but most endure in the faith, seeking refuge in God's merciful arms. However, very few Christians in modern times have experienced what Jesus is talking about in this passage. How many of us have had to deal with persecution? Sure, we as Christians risk rejection when we share the Word with a non-believer, and may even be mocked by some. But real persecution? That happens in China and India, but not in the U.S.A.

However, I believe that a time is coming, possibly within our lifetimes, where we as Christians will have our faith put to the test. In particular, the rise of activist groups in our society that have a vested interest in the subversion of the Truth have gained political strength and now have the means to alter the safe environment that we have enjoyed for so long. We will not go from where we are now to end-times abruptly, but it will be a gradual happening. I see a time in the near future where the government will revoke the tax-exempt status of churches that speak out against sin, in particular homosexual sin. I believe that the recent movements in so-called 'hate speech' will start to focus on words coming from the Bible (and those who preach it), so that any condemnation of sin will be viewed as hateful and will be persecuted.

I pray that my faith produces fruit according to His Will, and that my soil is the good soil. I pray that when the time comes for me to stand firm against harsh persecution, that I will be able to do so through Christ Jesus who strengthens me.

Beginnings

So I'm new to this blogging thing. I have been trying to think of a forum where I can express my thoughts on the Christian life, on The Holy Bible, on the world and current events. The goal is to help myself and others focus on Christ, to draw closer to Him. I will try to post every day with anything from my daily devotional to something cute my kid said, and will try to make it relevant. Bold goals, I know, but I'll see what happens.