After I had been born again for about 20 years a relative approached me in the middle of a conversation about something else and proclaimed to me; "remember how you used to be" in a snarky tone meant to demean. It had nothing to do with the conversation which led me to believe she had been cogitating on it for a long time waiting for the opportunity to use it to embarrass me.
I was astounded at this because the person had been a Christian all her life, it made no sense that she would want to remind me, in an accusing tone a fellow believer of their past.
Every believer ought to be able to say; "I used to be sinful and I praise Him that He changed me into a brand new person never to be the old person again."
Anyone who accuses others of their past couldn't possibly have confessed their own sinfulness to be changed by Christ or they would never think of any born-again believer in terms of their sinful past.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11
"9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals,
10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor those habitually drunk, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.
11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and [b]in the Spirit of our God."
Notice in verse 11 God states "such were some of you, but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of God."
When we become born again we are changed by Christ, only the devil would use a person's mouth to condemn us based on past forgiven sins.
It has been my experience that those who judge people on past sins will continually think of the character of the person they judge as still having the character of that previous sinful person. This is also a denial of what Christ did in their target, it is against Christ to attack another born-again believer about their past forgiven sins.
Keep in mind that those who refuse to see the changed nature and lifestyle of a person are those who have not been changed themselves or they would see the change and be blessed and pleased by your new life in Christ.
Matthew 7:21-23
I Never Knew You
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’"
Sometimes it is frightening to me the number of people I have met over the years who claim to be Christians, even living fairly moral lives who do not have the fruit of the Spirit and do not understand the saving grace of Jesus Christ in changing a person.
Galatians 5:22-23
"22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."
Romans 12:14-16 "14 Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. 16Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but enjoy the company of the lowly. Do not be conceited.…"
It is astounding how many "Christians" lack the fruit of the Spirit and do not rejoice with one another but rather are jealously measuring others up to see if they are worthy of love, kindness, and gentleness.
Here is what God says about love;
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
4 Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant.
5 It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered,
6 it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away with; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away with."
Does love accuse someone of past forgiven sins?
Is love jealous of others?
Does love boast to appear superior to others?
Does love rejoice at the failings of others rather than the victories?
Does love choose to believe the worst about those who have been forgiven?
Does love gossip about a person's past when they are no longer living as they did before?
Does love demean to elevate self?
NO!!! Love does not act in the ways previously mentioned. In 1 Corinthians 13 we see the nature of a person who has been changed into a new creation by Christ, it is empathetic, kind and all the traits of the Holy Spirit. When someone lacks all these traits, attempting to appear superior to others it is a clue they have not been born again. These people need to confess their "self-righteousness" and ask to be cleansed of it by Christ.
Our culture is becoming more arrogant, self-righteous, and resistant to the gospel and correction than ever before. The entire culture even in the church has become narcissistic as God said it would in the end times. as in 2 Timothy 3 the people would have a form of religion but deny the power of God and the truth of His Scriptures.
There are far more false Christians in the church today than ever before and much more foolishness and back-stabbing as we see the end times approaching.
2 Timothy 3:1-5
Difficult Times Will Come
"1 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.
2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,
3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,
4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5 holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power; avoid such people as these."
2 Timothy 4:2-4
"…2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and encourage with every form of patient instruction.
3 For the time will come when men will not tolerate sound doctrine, but with itching ears they will gather around themselves teachers to suit their own desires.
4 So they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.…"
We see every day the propensity for people to love their fantasy while rejecting the truth. The truth-teller is rejected while those who lie against the Bible are elevated and respected.
In our day we see many people refusing to discuss important matters but ravenous to have their own opinion heard based on feelings rather than facts. The Bible in the church today is violated more than it is obeyed.
In our day we see families being unforgiving to one another because their pride will not allow themselves to self-reflect in order to ask God to change their sinful nature. We see that people will not repent to be forgiven, they love their sin and even twist the Bible to justify it.
In our day we see lies being told from the pulpit while the pew people believe all those lies. The itching ears are hearing what they want to hear and refuse to hear anything other than their pleasure.
2 Timothy 4:3 "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but having itching ears, they shall heap to themselves teachers in accordance with their own lusts."
In our day we see most people intolerant of any form of correction even in the mildest terms, because of pride, these people look for preachers who will schmooze them and court them massaging their feelings until they can no longer think rationally or Biblically.
This list of "in our day" could be far longer than it is here, you all could add to it yourselves if you have been born-again and walking with Christ.
We need to understand these things so that we are not offended or taken off guard when we notice people acting in these disrespectful, mean-spirited, and demeaning ways. We must walk our walk in Christ no matter what others are doing refusing to become like them.
When we live in a culture of rudeness and disrespect it is human nature to slip into the tactics of the world in self-defense. We must not allow these disrespectful people to goad us into becoming like them.
1 Corinthians 15:33-34 " 33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good character.” 34 Sober up as you ought, and stop sinning; for some of you are ignorant of God. I say this to your shame.…"
Only our pride makes us feel a need to answer a rude person back, but God says to ignore an insult. We are capable in Christ to ignore the insults and refuse to act the way they do in a response to them.
If the Holy Spirit leads us to speak the truth in words like; "that was rude", knowing that perhaps the person listening will learn from your response, of course, this is good because it came from the Holy Spirit to someone who is capable of learning from it. However when we realize this person will not learn and begins a fight over the correction then we are to walk away and stay away from them until they repent, which in our day is rare.
Christ and the apostles never remained in the lives of those who adamantly rejected them. To remain in the lives of those who have a lifestyle of rudeness is to be co-dependent. The fear of not being liked by someone is not godly and leads to our own regression in our walk with Christ.
Proverbs 4:23
"23 Above all else, guard your heart,
for everything you do flows from it."
When we spend too much time with wicked people allowing them to push our buttons and ultimately ruminating on their rudeness we are being drawn away from God. We guard our hearts by avoiding disrespectful people who refuse to change and moving on to others who are more open and honest, and capable of learning God's principles. We also want to spend our time with those who love God, those who will encourage us to obey Scripture and pray often.
Proverbs 13:19-21 "…19 Desire fulfilled is sweet to the soul, but turning from evil is detestable to fools. 20 He who walks with the wise will become wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed. 21 Disaster pursues sinners, but prosperity is the reward of the righteous.…"
When we choose our friends wisely spending time with those who love God with all their hearts and we will grow and blossom, we will be wise and discerning. And, we can pray for those we had to walk away from, never be deceived into thinking a person will change just because you remained with them to continually be abused by them, it merely enables them to continue to grow in their angst toward us. The more we tolerate the abuse the more they are empowered to continue.
No comments:
Post a Comment