Changed

I want to start this with some questions.  There are people that proclaim many things but, is it more talk than walk?  Have you really been changed by what you proclaim?  When you go around witnessing about your faith, do you go around proclaiming that something has happened to you that is so profound and life changing in your life that you have a struggle believing it yourself?  Then do you go around all puffed up and full of pride with a judgmental and a holier than thou attitude, when ministering to others.  Maybe you walk around like a roller coaster, up one day and down the next, with all kinds of mood changes and all you end up doing is turning people off?  Because of your experience, have you been really changed from the inside out or has it just been an emotional outward show?  

If you are an emotional person, nothing may have taken place on the inside and the only change that has taken place is from an emotional experience and will fade and not last.  Think about these words, they honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.  This seems to happen in some cases, people talk the walk, but don’t truly walk the walk.  What are you really like when no one is watching?  

I am speaking to myself as well as whoever reads this, these are questions we should ask ourselves at times.  None of us can afford to be hood-winked when it comes to our salvation, it is the most important decision we will ever make.  I want to make this very clear; I have been so discouraged at times and so down on myself that I have doubted my relationship with God, which seems to come easy when you allow yourself to get in those situations.  The devil is the accuser of the brethren and would love to get us so down on ourselves that we would want to throw up our hands and admit defeat and throw in the towel, so to speak, and give up completely.  And, I am afraid that many have, because they believed the negativity and the lies that were fed to them by others and even from relatives and friends who may be jealous or just don’t have a real grasp on the Word of God, so be careful what you take in as truth.

Getting back to our main topic, like I said earlier, it is important to ask these questions at times; the Word of God says to examine yourself to see if you are in the faith.  Are you a new creation in Christ?  Do you hate sin?  Have you truly experienced godly sorrow and true repentance?  Have you ever wept over your sinful condition and how it hurts the Lord?  Are you studying God’s Word and praying, seeking to honor the Lord daily?  Have you grown cold with the things of God or have you left your first love, which should have been the Lord?  Only you and I can answer these questions, and they are very important?  

Maybe you are in a backslidden condition and you need to truly repent and get back to your first love.  God’s Word talks about the shepherd who left the 99 sheep that didn’t go astray, to find the one who did.  Jesus is the good Shepherd and He is not willing that any be lost, but that all come to repentance.  Maybe you have just been kidding yourself and you have never been born again.  

Like I said, examine yourself to see if you are in the faith.  I pray that you will make the right choice if you are in any of these situations.  Please, truly repent and don’t forget godly sorrow, because that is true sorrow, then make things right with the Lord as soon as possible and please don’t put it off a second longer!!

May the good Lord bless you and yours with His perfect peace, love and joy and health and happiness and may you all have a super day!!  PS don’t forget to thank and praise the Lord, for He is worthy, Amen!!