Now if we are talking about God’s Word, and have been studying
it and asking the Lord to lead us into the truth through His precious Holy
Spirit before we read and study, then when the counterfeit comes along we
should be able to discern the truth from error. But there may be a problem in this, do we put
into practice what we read or hear? Pastor
Joe mentioned one of these verses last week in James 1:22-25, “But be ye doers of the word, and not
hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word,
and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what
manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and
continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work,
this man shall be blessed in his deed.”
This is what I thought of when I was typing this, I thought about
wolves in sheep’s clothing. God’s Word
says you will know them by their fruit. The
problem with this is, if you don’t know the person very well it is hard to see
their fruit. Christians are sort of like
penguins which all look pretty much the same. They learn to walk the walk and talk the talk,
so they fit in pretty good with the rest of the believers. I have heard this said, “I would rather see a
sermon than to hear one anytime,” or something close to that. I have also heard this said, “it is easy to
talk the talk but not so easy to walk the walk.” So in all reality, are we really living what
we say or are we living a double standard, or a double life?
I feel like many people that claim to be believers need to
think about this statement, Christianity isn’t just a Sunday experience, it is
a seven day a week walk. I think there
are people who say one thing and do another and some are just playing games
with God whether they realize it or not. Think about this statement, “You can fool some
of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all the time.” But there is one that we will have to give an
account to someday and that is the Lord, you can’t fool Him!!
I see some of the problem as this; we all know that God
loves all His creation, we can know that from reading John 3:16-17 which says
this, “For God so loved the world, that
he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn
the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”
But what we need to remember is that God hates sin, He knows
how destructive it is and how it tears down and destroys people’s lives and it
also separates us from Him. Read Hebrews
12:1-9, “Wherefore seeing we also are
compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every
weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience
the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of
our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising
the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider
him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be
wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving
against sin. And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as
unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint
when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and
scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth
with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But
if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards,
and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us,
and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the
Father of spirits, and live?” Now think about God’ grace and mercy towards
us. Read the remedy for sin in a person’s life in 2 Corinthians 7:10, “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to
salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.”
When we sin, godly sorrow is very important, it brings true
repentance!! Now
read what true repentance does for us in verse 11 in that
same chapter, “For behold this selfsame
thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, (what carefulness it wrought in
you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear,
yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye
have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter).
Godly sorrow is very important, it bears the kind of attitude
we need in our lives. A humble and
contrite heart is what the Lord seeks in our lives, this He will not despise
because He draws to the humble and resists the proud!!
I have given you something to think about and may God bless
you and yours and may you have a super, super day!!
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