Faith Is Not a Second Chance

As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he promised us—eternal life.

1 John 2:24-25 (NIV)

I remember when I first gave my life to Christ. I knew that my salvation was all about Jesus. Although I had attended church virtually my whole life I recognized that something was definitely missing. 

One of the well meaning but false teachings I had to overcome was that in Christ we have a second chance. What that turns into is that we have a second chance to be good enough. Of course we can never be good enough because our best, our righteousness is at best filthy rags. God does not give you a second chance to be good enough. That would be salvations by works. He gives you salvation by faith. He offers you forgiveness in Jesus Christ. 

Your work is to remain in Jesus. In a sense this is like driving a car in a race. You have to finish the race in the car, you can't get out of the car and walk across the finish line. In the same way, you don't spend your life having faith in Christ as your Savior and Lord and then finish in your own righteousness. What I heard from the beginning of my life in Christ was that it was all about Jesus, he is my righteousness, holiness and redemption (I Corinthians 1:30). That never changes. That is the good news, the gospel. 

If you have gotten out of Christ, get back in Christ. Remain in him. Remember to remain in Christ is to live by faith in his finished work on the cross. 

Father, thank you for salvation, that we can live by faith in Christ. Help us to walk by faith in Christ, to remain in him. Praise be to you in us today!

Know God is Your Mighty Warrior

But the Lord is with me like a mighty warrior;
   so my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. 
They will fail and be thoroughly disgraced;
   their dishonor will never be forgotten.
Lord Almighty, you who examine the righteous
   and probe the heart and mind,
   let me see your vengeance on them,
   for to you I have committed my cause. 
Sing to the Lord!
Give praise to the Lord!
He rescues the life of the needy 
   from the hands of the wicked.
Jeremiah 20:11-13 (NIV) 

Jeremiah sought to do what God had called him to do even though he met with unbearable opposition. His own people just didn't want to hear the truth. The whole country basically hated to see him coming because he constantly reminded them of their sins. To say he might feel like it was him against the world is truly an understatement of Biblical proportions!

Despite the constant opposition Jeremiah reminded himself that it was God that fought his battles and God who they were actually struggling with. Jeremiah did ask to see God's vengeance upon them. I'm comforted by that because I believe I should be gracious with others because God is so gracious to me, yet, sometimes I just want God to squish some people. I think it's all right to sometimes ask God to show you that those that oppose your godly actions reap what they sow. 

The truth for us is that during the daily battles of our faith we can remember that it is God that fights the battle, he is our mighty warrior.

Father, be our mighty warrior today! Open our eyes to see that greater is he that is within us than he that is in the world. Praise be to you in us today!

How To Recognize the Spirit

I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

1 John 2:21-23 (NIV)

Some people just struggle with everything. A very good friend of mine used to think that everyone else at church was doing great, had great faith, overcame every trial with great joy. The reality is quite different. Most people who go to church are struggling with their marriage, kids, jobs, addictions and just the world in general and they smile because they don't want to break down in tears publically. 

In the midst of the pressures of everyday life in the twenty first century we can often miss, as in not detect, the Spirit of God working in our lives. The Apostle Paul reminds us that "no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit" (I Corinthians 12:3). The reformers realized that the effects of sin reached our entire beings (total depravity) and that the grace of God did also. Any thought we have of God can only come from the Spirit of God working in our inner beings. Do you get that? Each thought that you have of God is God calling you to himself. Don't let the enemy turn the conviction of the Spirit of God to pray, read the Bible, or love someone specifically in action, into condemnation. 

John didn't write to the believers so they would doubt their salvation or mire themselves in condemnation, but he wrote that they might, we might live in the light as he is in the light. Remember that as you go about your business today that every thought you have of God is the Holy Spirit calling you to walk in the light with Christ. 

Father, thank you for every thought of you. Help us to thankfully recognize the Holy Spirits work in our lives. Praise be to you in us today!

Know the Truth, He Never Lies

But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. 1 John 2:20 (NIV)

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."  John 14:6 (NIV)

The truth can be hard to come by. Think about it. How many times have you thought someone was telling you the truth only to find out they were lying. When someone tries to represent themselves as something they are not, we call that living a lie. Of course you have heard the joke, "Do you know how to tell when a politician is lying? Their lips are moving."

Knowing Christ is knowing the truth. God can not lie. What we learn from Christ, from the Bible, we can depend on as truth. I know that some people view the Bible as an antiquated piece of literature full of myths and fables. But, that is not what it is at all. One hundred plus years ago dictionaries defined Hittites as a mythological  group of people referred to in the Bible. Later, they discovered evidence of the existence of the Hittites. Admittedly, many people have misunderstood, misinterpreted and misrepresented the Bible. But, it has proven itself true again and again. 

Yet, truth is more than just an opinion of what one perceives to be true. Truth is about knowing who Christ is and knowing him as the truth. When you know Christ as Lord you know that the universe was made through him (Hebrews 1:2). Christ is the truth. Science may discover things but it does create the laws that govern the universe. Albert Einstein said, "I want to think God's thoughts, the rest are details." 

We can choose to live by faith in the truth or not. If you know Jesus, you know the truth. 

Father, thank you that Jesus is the truth and we may know him. Praise be to you in us today!

Clutter of the Mind

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

1 John 2:15-17 (NIV)

There is a difference between being hungry for food that your body needs to run the way God created you to run and desiring something in a consuming unnatural way.  When the Apostle John talks about the world in these verses he is not talking about the mere physical world that we must operate within on a daily basis. 

John describes the world as "the cravings of sinful man, the lust of the eyes and the boastings of what he has and does". I saw a bumper sticker once that read, "He who has the most toys wins." The world seeks status by what they have, not necessarily by who they are. This unnatural mixture, which the world sees as natural and normal, craves and lusts for fulfillment and seeks it in ever increasing amounts. The catch is that enough is never enough. 

Have you seen one of those "reality" shows on hoarding? It's alarming because the attachment to what most people would consider junk is imperative. They just get more stuff and it clutters up their homes and lives. But, how many things do we hold on to in our hearts and minds that clutter up our hearts and minds? I am talking about cravings and lusts (not just sex) that take us away from faith in Christ. God did give us desires, strong desires. God will give us wisdom if we ask (James 1:5). Seeking what the world wants is temporary, at best. Seeking the will of God and enjoying what he provides is truly fulfilling and will lead to eternal joy. 

Father, help us to seek your will and enjoy what you have given us. Praise be to you in us today!

Zip Lines, Stars and the Glory of God

The heavens declare the glory of God;
   the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
   night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words;
   no sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
   their words to the ends of the world.
Psalms 19:1-4a (NIV)

This Fathers Day weekend I was blessed to spend it with my youngest son and his Boy Scout Troop. We were in the mountains and we went on a three and a half hour zipline tour! It was awesome! The zipline was great, although I still get a bit freaked out rappelling. One run was a quarter mile so there was time to enjoy the view of the mountains and the valley below. 

We spent the evening around the campfire, making smores and gazing at the stars. Psalm 19 says that the heavens declare the glory of God and night after night the skies display knowledge. Chance did not create such a universe. Aliens did not plant us here on earth. God created the world and everything in it. The heavens declare the glory of God and when I look out on the stars I am humbled. 

I know that some deny that God exist and insist that chance plus time equals the universe we live in. But, I have never heard an atheists tell me my they are an atheist without mentioning the God they say does not exist. God spoke. The heavens declare his glory! 

Father, open the hearts of men to see your glory in the heaven and give you glory in their hearts! Praise be to you in us today!

How To Be Mature in Christ

I am writing to you, dear children,
   because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.
I am writing to you, fathers,
   because you know him who is from the beginning.
I am writing to you, young men,
   because you have overcome the evil one. 
I write to you, dear children,
   because you know the Father.
I write to you, fathers,
   because you know him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
   because you are strong,
   and the word of God lives in you,
   and you have overcome the evil one.
1 John 2:12-14 (NIV)

Where are you at in your relationship with God? John reminds us that knowing that our sins are forgiven is the basis of our relationship and the purpose is to know God, him who is from the beginning. There will be battles along the way and we will need the word of God to live in us and to be strong in the Lord and overcome the evil one. 

Where are you at in your relationship with God? Are you a little child just learning that your sins are forgiven? Are you a young man/ woman learning to be strong in the word of God and, by faith, overcoming the evil one? Are you a father/ mother who knows him who is from the beginning? 

What I get from this is that the basis of my relationship with God is the forgiveness of my sins by Christ's death on the cross. I progress in my relationship with Christ through the study of the word of God and the applications of its' truths applied by faith in the daily battles where I need to overcome the evil one. I mature and rest in my faith as I learn that knowing God and making him known is my true purpose in life. 

Father, help us to press on toward maturity. Reveal you forgiveness to us. Give us strength to overcome the evil one. And help us to know you, the Eternal Sovereign Lord. Praise be to you in us today!