How You Can Tell

 How you can tell

Am I a biker? Well, I ride a motorcycle. I put a helmet on my head (because I don’t trust me). I get on it. I start it. And I can drive it down most roads with little to no difficulty. However, I don’t get into the curves too fast or ride it on dirt tracks or mountain passes. Why? Because even though I am able to ride a motorcycle when the road is smooth and straight, I am not necessarily an accomplished rider. I don’t take long trips on a bike. I do not spend much time caring for the machine other than putting gas and oil in it. I did wash it once this year. I ride a motorcycle but I am not a biker. There is a big difference between a biker and a rider.

Christianity has similar distinctives. There are a good many people today who would claim to be Christian. They attend church when they have time as long as it is not too inconvenient. They are often seen putting some small amount of money in the offering plate as it passes. In fact, many who claim to be Christian even try to do things in public that look religious. Is church attendance worship? Does giving a small amount “appease” God? Is doing good things the same as being holy?

I was at the post office this morning. A middle-aged woman driving a pickup truck pulled into the lot. After she entered the office she began to tell a story to the post master. In that story she made no attempt to refrain from the use of common vulgarities. What she did and said clearly caused me to wonder if she had ever been saved. I felt sorry for her as I wondered about her eternal state. As I passed by her truck I saw a large Bible on the dash in clear view. Was it her Bible? Did she actually claim to be born again? Later in the day I was on the computer and was directed to the page of a friend whom I am fairly certain would claim to be saved. As I read the entries posted by my friend I was actually shocked and at times appalled by what was there. Were these people Christians? Think this through carefully, were they Christians?

Believers today (those who claim to be saved) have no real sense of holiness. There is no revulsion toward sin, no actual hatred of sin. Christians today essentially sin and say, “oops” and go on with life. God calls us to a holy, sin free, life. Jesus told the woman taken in adultery (John 8:11) to “go and sin no more.” 1Peter 1:15 says, “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation.”  And we are warned by the Apostle Paul that if we do sin God will punish us for it if we are truly saved, Hebrews 12:5b-6, “…My son despise not the chastening of the Lord nor faint when though art rebuked of Him. (v.6) For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.” These two passages are most enlightening. If we are not living holy lives we are living in open rebellion against God. And the evidence that we are God’s children is the chastisement (punishment) that God brings into our lives every day because of our sin. Here then is the dilemma. If we are sinning without God punishing us, are we saved? If we can live in un-holiness without guilt are we truly the children of God? It is almost like we want to be bikers without being dedicated to biking. We are trying to be Christians without allowing God into our daily lives, without allowing His Holy Spirit to reign supreme in our hearts.

We do not perform all the things that Christians are known to do in order to be saved. BUT, if we are saved and God’s Holy Spirit is living in our heart, if we have truly been born again we will naturally be living differently, II Cor. 5:17 “Therefore, if any man be in Christ he is a new creature. Old things are passed away, behold all things are become new.” 

When people see you, what do they see? Do they see someone who is living a holy life in compliance with the command of God? Are there noticeable differences between your life today and the life you lived before coming to Christ? What words come out of your mouth during a conversation? Or, what do your text messages and facebook postings reveal about the heart you said was changed by the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ?

Jesus left us here in this world to be ambassadors for Christ, to represent Him here. Everything we do reflects on the name of our Lord positively or negatively. We are His ambassadors. With everything we say, everything we post on these computers and every text we send we are telling a lost world something about our God.

What did you, by your actions or words, tell the world about Jesus today?

The Battle

 The Battle

2Timothy 2:4  No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

If we were going to war we would not allow the things of this world to distract us. And, in our more modern thinking, we would not likely be concerned with pleasing the one who chose us for any army. However, one can see the intent of this statement just the same, “Please God with your life since it is God who chose you to become one of His own.” He chose you.

                We get so caught up with the things in this world, never really understanding their temporal nature. The Apostle John saw it almost 2000 years ago; I John 2:15-16 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (v.16) For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. Everything around us is temporary and has no lasting purpose or value. We live in a spiritual universe, not physical. It is the spiritual which will continue not the physical. We put so much value on the things we see, striving to attain, working to gain more, finding ways to preserve or retain more “things”. When, in reality, it is the spiritual realm around us that actually matters. We are a brief physical manifestation in an eternal spiritual realm. The primary focus should be our eternal souls. But instead, we hold feverishly to our bank accounts, our public image, the status we have in society and all the possessions we have amassed, never pausing to consider that in a single moment of time it will all vanish.

                Our focus must become our relationship with God. The verse we cited above mentions soldiers. Timothy assumes first that we are members of God’s army, that we are born again children of God*. The children of God are the soldiers that Paul makes reference to in this verse. Too many of us become sons of God and then choose to stay home and not join in with the army of God. It is not a separate enlistment. When one becomes a child of God they are automatically enlisted in his army. Sadly, many of God’s soldiers choose to stay home and not join in the battle. God is warring for the souls of men. He is trying to save as many as possible before the end while a large part of his own army remains “encamped” at home in the comforts of this physical world.

                We must learn to focus on the battle. Paul told Timothy our war, our fight, must be one in which we are free from the affairs of this life. Our focus should be the souls of men, they are eternal. Every person we see will one day stand (or kneel) in the presence of God. The only question is whether they kneel as born-again believers at the Judgment Seat of Christ or as condemned souls at the Great White Throne. 

As Christians, our current concern seems to be more about maintaining other’s friendships and affections today in the few short years we share in this physical realm. We are in a battle for their souls. Release the hold of worldly affections and do everything possible to get them under the sound of the Gospel. Yes, it may cause us to lose their companionship today. But, if they finally, somewhere in life, meet Christ because of our testimony would the loss of their friendship today be too great a price to pay? The eternal gratitude of a redeemed soul will be of far greater value than anything this world offers.

                We are in a great spiritual battle and the only things which are eternal are the souls of our family, friends and acquaintances here. Turn your eyes to the battlefield and become one that the Father can be glad he chose for the fight. Be the soldier God has called you to be. Don’t be timid or shy. We must all come to the place in our Christian life where we can say with Paul, “… I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16).

                Get in the battle “that (you) may please him who hath chosen (you) to be a soldier.”

 

 *If you have not been born again then stop here please and read: http://christxalted.blogspot.com/2016/01/how-to-be-born-again.html)