1 Corinthians 2:2 Paul says “For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”
As I go through this life I have discovered that the more I know the less I know, I have also found this to be true of my attempting to learn of God and His ways, the more I know of Him the less I discover I really know and yet I still want to learn more and more and more and more. I want to learn of Him for a few reasons such as love, security, safety and assurance. For if I love Him I will keep His commands and if I know of Him I know what pleases Him and what does not and therefore I will attempt to please Him more and displease Him less. This walk, this Christian walk is no easy task for as the songwriter said we fall down but we get up and hopefully and prayerfully we fall down less and every day we learn something new about God and therefore something new about ourselves….
….Being a Christian is about God, about His love, about His son Jesus Christ paying mankind’s sin debt from Adam to the very last soul that will be born on this earth. It’s about the Holy Spirit's convicting yet comforting power to transform our lives.It’s not about what God can do for you but instead how you can serve Him.
Being a Christian is not about self righteousness, http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Titus%203:5-6;&version=9; it’s not about telling others they are going to hell and you are not, but it is about warning others that such a place does exist and that they should be careful to avoid it all costs (and yes there is a cost) and then alerting them as to how they can do that. Being a Christian is not about trying to change on your own and having everyone see what a good person you think you are it’s about allowing the Lord to work through you and giving the glory and the credit to whom it’s due.
It’s about love, a John 3:16 Love that says "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believed in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."It ’s not about believing that you are perfect but instead understanding that you are a sinner saved by a gracious God and understanding that any good thing that is in you is of your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ It’s not about saying one thing and then doing another,http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%207:4-5;&version=31; it is about examining ourselves http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Corinthians%2013:5-6;&version=31; it’s about making mistakes and owning up to them, asking forgiveness for sins and moving forward not backward.
It’s not about expecting to have all your troubles wiped away as a matter of fact being a Christian could be more trouble than you think http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians%201:29;&version=9; it may very well mean you having to leave some friends and family behind, having to change your lifestyle,http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%209:23;&version=9; having to change your mind. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%2012:2;&version=9;That being said we soon learn that being a Christian is not really about us but about Christ.It’s about not leaning on your own understanding but trusting that what God says He will do, He will do and what He says He won’t do He won’t, it’s understanding that God is not a man that he should lie, http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers%2023:19;&version=9;that His son Jesus is indeed the way the truth and the life. It’s not just about quoting scripture but learning to learn it and love it and live it and then pass it on. It’s about applying God’s word to every aspect of our lives from choosing a church, to choosing a job, to choosing friends and choosing a spouse. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Corinthians%206:14;&version=9 The bible provides for us instruction in every aspect of our lives. The instruction is for our protection and preservation.Being a Christian means having peace of mind that the world doesn’t understand http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians%204:6-7;&version=9;when everything around you has gone awry, when the stock market fails http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=6&verse=19&end_verse=21&version=9&context=context when gas prices continue to rise when inflation hits an all time high when your grandmother or your father dies when you feel like you just can’t go on. When your brother goes off to war and has to leave his family again, when LIFE happens and it will, you have an assurance that money can’t buy.
Being a Christian lets us know that we have a cross to bear and that life is not always fair. There are some things that we deserve and others that we don’t but we thank God that we don’t get all that we do deserve and that we do get some things that we don’t deserve (does that make sense). Well it’s like this we did deserve the punishment of hell and we did not deserve the love that Jesus displayed for us at Calvary but thank God oh let us thank God that He carried out His Father's will. A Song called Calvary displays these very sentiments it says:"I don’t deserve him dying on a tree and I don’t deserve the love has for me, Christ did it all He did it all Christ did it all for me." But thanks be to God that John 1:12 says But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. In this we were granted a way to reconcile with God the Father through God the Son and now we are joint heirs to the throne
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%208:16-17;&version=9;
Christ died for us but His main objective was to be obedient to and show the love He has for His Father, He did it because He was our example of the sinless man, the perfect man, the obedient man, the humble man, the God man.
Being a Christian is about loyalty to God, to the God of the bible alone. It’s not about believing one part of the bible and then not believing other parts it’s about believing the very first words in Genesis 1:1 "IN THE BEGINNING GOD CREATED THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH" and the very last words in Revelation 22: 19-21 "AND IF ANY MAN SHALL TAKE AWAY FROM THE WORDS OF THE BOOK OF THIS PROPHECY, GOD SHALL TAKE AWAY HIS PART OUT OF THE BOOK OF LIFE, AND OUT OF THE HOLY CITY, AND FROM THE THINGS WHICH ARE WRITTEN IN THIS BOOK. HE WHICH TESTIFIETH THESE THINGS SAITH, SURELY I COME QUICKLY. AMEN. EVEN SO, COME LORD JESUS. THE GRACE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST BE WITH YOU ALL. AMEN... and believing every single word in between. And therefore it’s not about making God out to be someone that fits your approval but believing His word and that He is who He says: He is our strength, our salvation, our peace, our just judge and so much morehttp://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%203:14;&version=9
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%2026:3-4;&version=9;
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%2012:2;&version=9;
More... "On Being A Christian" to come in future posts
God Bless You,
Dee
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