JUST A BLOG

Touching lives with the truth of God's Word.

My Photo
Name:
Location: Birmingham, Alabama, United States

Friday, November 12, 2004

Serve The Lord Out Of Gratitude

May I say; We don't serve the Lord in order to try and convince Him to save us from our sins. We serve the Lord because He has already saved us from our sins. Paul says that "the love of Christ constrains us" to serve Him, out of gratitude for saving us by grace through faith [2Corinthians 5:14]. He adds that since "He died for all...they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again" [15]. It is only "reasonable" that we live for the One who died for us, and present our bodies a "living sacrifice" in the service of the One who presented His body a dying sacrifice for us on Calvary [Romans 12: 1-2].

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

Don't Presume On The Grace Of God

Speaking of the sins of the flesh, Paul says in [Ephesians 5: 6-7] "because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them". Some-day the wrath of God is going to fall on unbelievers because of their sin. Just because you are safe from the wrath of hell as a saved and secure child of God, don't presume on God's grace and continue to partake of sin with unbelievers. That is the bottom line of Paul's exhortation.

To illustrate Paul's point: Washington D.C. is full of foreign ambassadors who enjoy diplomatic immunity to our laws; they cannot be prosecuted by our courts for violating them. Yet when a speeding diplomat hit and killed a little girl with his automobile some years ago. Our citizenry was rightly outraged, because he could not be prosecuted. How could he flagrantly violate our laws just because he was immune to the prosecution of our courts? May I say, as Christians we should feel the same outrage at the thought of sinning against the God who saved us just because we can no longer be prosecuted by God's justice. We should rather refuse to indulge in the very sins for which Christ died, and think long and hard about our answer to God's question: "Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely...and come and stand before Me...and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?" [Jeremiah 7: 9-10].

Monday, November 01, 2004

WALK BY FAITH NOT BY SIGHT

We can live life in one of two contrasting ways. By the approach that comes naturally to us, that is by sight, basing all our thoughts and actions on what we can see and experience, or we can live life by the other way, which is by faith. The faith way does not come naturally, because to live by faith means that we are basing our life primarily and ultimately on what we cannot see or feel.

The apostle Paul said, “We walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). The believer has never seen God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, or the Holy Spirit. The believer can’t see heaven or hell. He has never talked to any of the Spirit-led authors of Scripture. Nor can he see the spiritual graces and virtues that God gives to those who belong to Him. But even though none of the above aspects of the Christian faith are tangibly visible, we as believers are convinced by faith of their truthfulness and we live accordingly. We base our lives and future destinies on invisible realities. It has always been that way for the true followers of Christ.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. [Hebrews 11:1]

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarded of those who diligently seek Him. [Hebrews 11:6]