All Our Sins

It's Time to Contend for Your Faith

Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people. 

Jude 1:3 (NIV)

Amongst the intellectual elite, the press and many average citizens Christianity is considered an obsolete myth. It is also to blame, according to some, for most of the evils of the day. Somehow churches who have always fed and cared for the homeless are evil. Missionaries who seek to love the world in Jesus' name are just part of an imperialistic western world. Telling someone that Jesus loves them and can free them from the chains of sin is an evil of unspeakable terms.

Why aren't we standing up to these lies? I think we just don't really recognize that we have a president that says we aren't a Christian nation and public education is run by people who want to erase Christianity and the rid the world of its' influence. I have interacted with quite a few "atheists" on Google+. They all want to blame the god they don't believe in for the problems they have created. Mankind will shake it's fist at the God who sent his one and only Son to save them from death and sin. It's time for us to realize the world needs to hear the gospel despite it's hatred for God.   

I think most of us will naturally avoid conflict if we can. I understand that. I just don't think we can avoid this conflict any longer. It's time to contend for your faith.

It's Time

Seek the Lord while he may be found;
   call on him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake their ways
  and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, 
   and he will have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
Isaiah 55:6-7 (NIV)

Here is the good news: if you are reading this he is seeking you and you can find him. He is near, that inkling in your heart to seek God is the Holy Spirit working inside you, drawing you to the Lord. Do what you have to do. If you need to confess, confess. If you need to repent, repent. Seek the Lord. He will find you. He will have mercy on you. He will freely pardon you. 

Face It, You Sin

   If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

   My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

1 John 1:8-2:2 (NIV)

Facing up to our own sinfulness can be very humbling. The question is not if we are going to sin or even when will we sin. The issue is what do we do when we sin. We confess. Jesus in his perfect faithfulness forgives us and purifies us. Just like a baby in diapers can't clean him/herself, we can't purify our own sin. we confess, Christ cleans. That is God's grace. 

The truth is that Jesus did not die just for our sins, he was the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. I have this friend at work. He needs to know God's grace. I can see it. I know he loves his wife and daughter, but he still needs Jesus. Jesus died for him too and I have been able to tell him, in normal conversations of God's love and forgiveness. 

That is the two sided beauty of the gospel. We are forgiven and we get to share that forgiveness with others. 

Father, forgive our sins. Share you love through us. Praise be to you in us today!

YOU CAN'T ARGUE SOMEONE INTO THE KINGDOM: II Timothy 2:23

"Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels." II Timothy 2:23

When I first started teaching there was a group of guys who started teaching couple years after me. They were all atheists and liberals. When they found out I was a Christian and not a liberal they just couldn't believe it and would ask all kinds of questions. I would ask them a few. The discussion would usually turn into a full on argument brawl. After a while I just told them that if they really wanted to know why I believe what I believe, just ask. They did and in the end about three guys found their way to Christ. 

I also notice that I have become a bit more tactful myself. I found that you need to always allow someone a way out, because, if you back someone into a corner (even verbally) they usually will try to fight their way out. Francis Schaeffer said that he once debated an atheist and when he got home his wife asked him if he won the debate. He said yes, but he'd never do it again because he felt that he beat the guy up so bad that he would never come to Christ. Truth without love can just be a battering ram. 

You can't quarrel/ argue someone into the kingdom. You may give an answer to your beliefs and that may be an opening to share the gospel. Proverbs 15:1 reminds us that, "A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." Remember, the goal is to turn people to Christ, not away from him. 

Father, give us grace to gently answer those question or challenge our beliefs. May we turn people to you, not away from you. Praise be to you in us today!