Amen, our lives should only be shared with those who love Christ and because they love Him they also love us.
Tuesday, December 3, 2024
In Our Image or in the Image of Christ?
What if your husband or boyfriend held up a picture of a beautiful woman who was not you and said it was you, would you be offended by it?
I would because it would tell me that in order to be loved by my husband I would have to look like or be like that woman.
When people have pictures of a man depicting Christ they are making Christ in the image they wish to see Him and not what He really was, this is offensive. It is based on appearances not character.
When we operate in relationships with our own expectations of how people will act when it is not associated with the principles and commands of Christ we are attempting to shape others into our own image. Some people even try to make human rules appear scriptural by snatching small portions of the bible out of their context to make it sound like scripture supports their desired idea.
When we give into the unbiblical expectations of others in fear of losing them then we are enabling superficial and damaging relationships to ruin our walk with Christ and even with others.
It is human nature to fall into "cultural standards" of men that have nothing to do with Christ. Mankind tends to make up their own rules that satisfy the need within themselves to feel superior just as the devil wanted to be superior to God and others, shaping them into his image.
The devil was not satisfied with his own plight because of his rebellion, he wants to take as many people with him as possible and the best way to do this is to appeal to the pride within the heart of man.
1 Peter 5:8 "Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour."
With cultural pressure and human entanglements that threaten contempt against us, it is easy to see how someone weak would feel so alone and so despised that they would give into the duress of those around them.
What weak people do not understand is that giving in causes regression in their walk and a hole in their sole that brings stress and complete emptiness.
When we are strong we have a sense of purpose and total freedom from the bondage of human oppression. This brings us independence to be able to think for ourselves with the mind of Christ.
With Christ we are strong, we are free and we are enthusiastic to follow Him even if we have to do it alone. He gives us the resolve to remain robust despite all the arrows of the devil that come at us.
Here is the proof of what I am saying:
Ephesians 6:10-11: "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes".
Hebrews 12:1: "He is strong enough to carry your burdens with you as you run the race with endurance".
Nehemiah 8:10: "And do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength".
1 Peter 4:11: "If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ".
Philippians 4:13: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me".
Gossip is a Sin
Those who assume things about others without ever talking to them is gossiping, this is a sin!
Gossipers Assume things to Justify their Desired Belief
Gossipers always have to assume things they wish were true to justify their lies.
Have You Ever Encountered Certain People
Have you ever encountered people who believe Jesus Christ had long hair because of the artist's renditions of him? Or, that pictures of a man depicting Christ is a blessing?
Have you encountered people who believe we should forgive without repentance because psychology has changed the word of God?
Have you ever encountered those who think divorce and remarriage is alright with God because of their feelings and the cultural desire to believe it is alright?
I have actually had "Christians" say to me, "I get what the Bible says, but I believe......?"
It is astounding how many things modern Christians believe that are not Biblical and entirely supported by the culture alone. They do not know their Bibles and when they go to "research" it they poke around until they find a verse that looks good and a commentator who says what they like and will refuse to hear anything else.
Snatching words out of context is common now and attempts to reason with those who love their sin is an impossibility.
The fear of man is huge in the evangelical church. The fear that friends won't like them anymore or that family will exclude them as radicals keeps them stuck in very bad and damaging doctrines.
They know they will be excluded because it is what they do to others.
2 Timothy 4:3
"3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;"
Proof of an Authentic Believer
All born-again believers will continue, if they do not it is the proof they were never born again. I am confident of this because when Christ changes us into a new creation we cannot change ourselves back. We are sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise as a Guarantee of our Inheritance.
Ephesians 1:13-14
"13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of the promise, 14 who is a first installment of our inheritance, in regard to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory."
2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!"
Our Spirit is alive in Christ but our body is dead in sin, the very reason we must battle our flesh. Christ helps us do that when we confess our sin and desire to be cleansed of it.
1 John 1:9
"9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
Faith is Unseen but Powerful
Those who place their trust in what they can see and touch as well as physical miracles will be fooled by the antichrist.
When we must see an unusual miracle to have faith we have little faith. Those who have strong faith have no need to see anything, they believe anyway and trust Christ anyway.
There are miracles all around that many miss because they are looking for something unusual. Take the tiny seed of the great fir tree, that falls in the ground and grows to a tree 300 feet tall merely from feeding off the nutrients of the ground. This is a miracle because God made that seed and that tree. I have seen these tall trees and it is amazing to enjoy.
The forming of a baby in the womb having been joined seed to seed so tiny only a sophisticated microscope can see it. Within 5 weeks the heart is beating and the baby grows for the next nine months into a baby that lives in that water until God brings it forth in His timing.
These things are miracles that many people miss because they are accustomed to them from a small child.
God holds the planets together with His hands, the scientists cannot pinpoint what is holding them together because it is a miracle of God.
Romans 10:17 "Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ"
God never said faith comes by seeing!
Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."
Those who must see with their eyes to have strong faith have a weak faith. Those who read the Word of God and believe Him will obey His word as He gave it because they have no need to add human wisdom to what He said to have a sense of proof.
When we love Christ and have great faith we will believe His Word and obey His Word even if we never see profit for ourselves or even if we do not understand it all. We will be able to die to defend it as well as lose everyone around us to follow Christ.
John 20:28-29 "…28 Thomas replied, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Those who have a weak faith will need to see unusual miracles and will need to have proof of God's principles as "working for them." Those with great faith may see nothing but hardship and trials but will still believe and obey God even when they are treated disrespectfully for their faith in God's Word.
If we cannot follow the Bible as God gave it and must have the approval of men to maintain that faith then that faith is not faith at all but compliance to men and their traditions.
We live in an apostate age now when many scriptures are taken out of context to make them say what men like to hear. Those who point this out in discussion will be treated with contempt and ignored.
2 Timothy 4:3
"3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;"
Many principles and commands of God have been distorted and the new ideas fabricated to justify saying what God did not say, even lying against His Word with claims that He said things He never said.
2 Corinthians 4:3-6
"But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them."
Luke 21:15-17 "15 For I will give you speech and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you will be put to death. 17 And you will be hated by everyone because of My name."
Matthew 10:21
"Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rise against their parents and have them put to death."
In our country those who hate us do not put us to physical death, but they wish they could and will attempt to turn others against us, a form of emotional and spiritual death through passive aggressiveness. They exclude, ignore, gossip, and demean hoping to create an emotional wreckage in us but they will not be able to do it because Christ in us makes us strong.
When we know this is happening now we can take great comfort in the fact that it has nothing to do with hatred toward us, but that it is hatred toward God Who lives in us. They think they are hurting us but they are harming themselves as they grow more bitter, angry, and in spiritual turmoil every day.
Those who hate us think they are targeting us but they are coming against God Who lives in us, when we remember this we can see them with pity, pray for their salvation, and avoid them allowing God to work on them His way in His timing. It is vital to remember we are not responsible for making others understand or somehow force them to hear us, this is the job of the Holy Spirit.
We cannot change the heart of anyone nor can we get them to understand the things of God, it is something God has to do His way and in His timing.
The best thing we must do is be the person God is making us and feed on His Word every day.
There is great joy and comfort in knowing that we are only responsible for ourselves and obeying God as the Holy Spirit leads.
Micah 6:8 Our responsibility is "to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.".
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