1 Corinthians 2:14 "The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned."
1 John 3:8-10 "… 8 The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the very start. This is why the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the devil. 9Anyone born of God refuses to practice sin, because God’s seed abides in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 By this the children of God are distinguished from the children of the devil: Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brother."
Those who fight against the truth of the Word of God do not have a love of His Word. They have fashioned a "religion" based on their desired beliefs not on wisdom from Jesus Christ.
I have known many "Christians" who resist discussing the things of God as written in the Bible because they love their traditions and know they will be isolated from their group if they question anything that does not match pitch with what the group is saying.
Romans 6:1-2
"What then shall we say? Shall we continue in sin so that grace may increase? Certainly not! How can we who died to sin live in it any longer?"
2 Corinthians 5:17
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come!"
Romans 8:9-11
"You, however, are controlled not by the flesh, but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you."
The fruit of the Spirit of Christ is evident in anyone who walks with Christ.
Galatians 5:22-23 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law."
Those who walk by the Spirit have no need of a human ruler over them because the Spirit of Christ in us compels us to live according to the commands and principles of Christ.
Love is what is required to fulfill the Law of Christ; everything else comes under that heading. When there is no love, there is no fruit of the Spirit.
1 John 4:7-8
"Beloved, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love."
Those who claim to be Christians but are imposters can only pretend a counterfeit love based on performance, not on character. In fact, often those who are counterfeits interpret many things falsely because they have no love and are highly competitive.
Those who are pretenders can only feign a superficial form of love that is not loyal, joyful, and self-reflective. These people base their opinions on guesses, not facts and on feelings not reality.
When we walk with Christ, we are not interested in evaluating everything others are doing, we are interested in edifying one another in the truth as we admonish, rebuke, and encourage in the Word that everyone may be growing in holiness. As we grow in holiness, we become more loving and less critical about the things that do not really matter.
James 1:5 "5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him."
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."
When we walk in love, we communicate more; those who do not walk in love refuse to communicate because they love misunderstanding that affords them the freedom to judge things that are none of their business.
1 Thessalonians 4:10-12 "…10 And you are indeed showing this love to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to excel more and more 11 and to aspire to live quietly, to attend to your own matters, and to work with your own hands, as we instructed you. 12 Then you will behave properly toward outsiders, without being dependent on anyone."
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