Friday, July 2, 2021
Whom Did You Follow, the Devil and Your Flesh or God?
It was not your flesh or the devil that made you do a bad thing! It was your choice to follow your flesh or the devil.
My Flesh Made Me Do It! NOT
I heard it said once that "if I have sinned against you, that was just me, if I did anything good it was Christ."
Many people think this is a good excuse for sin, "my flesh made me do it", or "the devil made me do it."
This mentality is a terrible witness, it makes excuses for bad behavior. Perhaps the simplest and most Biblical expression would be; "I sinned against you, please forgive me."
Many unsaved people do good things, not all good deeds are from God, some are done in the flesh to elevate self.
Christ is glorified when we admit our failings without excusing them with "it was the flesh" or "it was the devil." This is nothing more than blaming our faults and failings on something other than our own desire to sin while neglecting to walk in the Spirit.
It is not the fault of the flesh or the devil that we sin, they were vehicles the devil used to influence us, but if we sin it is by our own willful choice.
We will never be accepted by God when we go to Him saying "my flesh made me do it" or "the devil made me do it." NO, we chose to sin without regard to the heart of God and His commandments.
John 14:15-16 "15 If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you forever—…"
If anyone comes to you with the excuse that their flesh or the devil made them do something bad, merely say, "no, it was your choice to follow your flesh or the devil, you made that choice disregarding God's heart."
People Who Believe They are Good without God: Beware!
It fascinates me how many unsaved people believe they are good. When we compare their attitude and actions with God's Word they are not good at all but still think so. All the prisoners in jail believe they are "basically good people" who just got caught up in a bad act.
I have met with young people in the youth jail, they all say the same things. They don't understand that if they were righteous people they could not do what they did, it wouldn't even enter their minds.
The person who stole something thinks they are not so bad because they didn't murder someone.
The person who didn't steal will disrespectfully use the Lord's name in vain to fit into the culture but because they didn't throttle someone physically they think they are a good person.
The person who murdered because they were angry will say they are basically good because they had a good reason.
The person who didn't murder, steal or cuss will think they are good but are disrespectful to their parents.
It is not the individual sins that cause us to be bad, it is our entire being full of sinfulness that is the reason we are headed to hell if we do not trust in Christ.
Many, I mean many, believe they are good because they have never done the big things that people can see. They are going to hell because they think they are good enough and have done enough good to make it. They have not trusted Christ even though some of them say they have, because they are still proud of their own life. They do not give God the glory they take the glory for themselves and act superior toward others they believe are not measuring up to their human standard.
Matthew 7:21-23
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 will enter. 22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; leave Me, you who practice lawlessness.’"
Many who say they love God do not honor their parents, they are generally selfish and easily angered over the smallest matters, but because they attend a church gathering they think they are in good standing with God.
It isn't our deeds that send us to hell, it's not trusting in Christ Who paid the penalty for our sin. When we trusted Christ He changed us, we did not earn fellowship with Him by our good deeds, we became born again into His family by admitting we are sinful without the ability to be righteous. It is His righteousness that He gave us when we confessed our sinfulness and desired to be changed by Him.
Many "Christians" today remain prideful about how good they think they are, continually comparing themselves with others to make sure they are counted as superior.
If there is no desire to be changed by Christ there is no salvation. Any good deeds done by someone who is self-righteous do not count with God no matter how sacrificial those deeds may be.
It is Christ who is righteous, He alone can cleanse us and keep us until He comes for us. Hallelujah!!!
Romans 3:22-23 " 22 And this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no distinction, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,…"
Thursday, July 1, 2021
True or False Self: Which is It!
It's easy to become defensive when we are worried about what others think of us. Defensive people are fearful people.
When we don't care if others like us but are dedicated to obeying God only, we are free to be ourselves without worry about losing someone's love.
We love people but we don't need to be loved by others because Christ loves us, we can be authentic without fear. Every believer has the love of every other believer, no need to "work at it", it comes naturally to those who love Christ.
1 John 3:13-15 "…13 So do not be surprised, brothers, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. The one who does not love remains in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that eternal life does not reside in a murderer.…"
We want to be kind and loving in our responses to people but do not have a need to be fake to cause people to feel good about us.
If someone will not love us if we do not act like them these are people who will not be good and close friends.
May the Lord free us from the need to be special, loved by many people, and elevated in our own eyes. These things are bondage and will keep us continually emotional wrecks without strong character.
Keeping Christ as our focus will prevent us from "play-acting" a false self for others to view.
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