Articles
Doing It God's Way
Hopefully a little encouragement today to re-charge our commitment to following Christ.
Billions today fail to follow Christ. Many just choose not to follow Him, with no actual intent to follow Satan either, they just want to be uncommitted. Yet scriptures tell us rejection of Christ is alignment with Satan. There is no neutral 'middle ground'. Jesus tells us in Matt 12:30 that whoever is not for Him is against Him. Satan is against Christ, therefore we align ourselves with Satan when and if we reject Christ. Jesus said, "He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day." (John 12:48) For anyone to think there are no consequences in rejecting Christ, scripture warns to the contrary.
Ponder this thought just a moment. Isn't it an ultimate display of arrogance to rebel against God? "God I reject you" or "God I'm not going to do it your way" or God, I'm going to follow my own heart". Are we not warned against such? Again, people say they are not rebelling, they just are not committing. That may be a nice play on words, but God isn't fooled. It is an out and out rejection to refuse to follow Him. Failure to accept is rejection and/or rebellion no matter what spin mankind may put on it, and billions today live in rebellion.
So what about those who commit? What about those of us who strive NOT to rebel? There are numerous scriptures we can call upon to comfort us in our decision not to rebel, but rather to embrace Him and clothe ourselves with Christ. Hallelujah that the Bible makes a clear distinction, because the blessings that we read about in scripture come to those who are in Christ, who follow His will.
So what are some of those blessings? Well, simply being "in Christ" is the most significant, as the others are extended to us because we are "in Christ". His grace, His love, His peace, His freedom, the forgiveness of sin, redemption, justification, the Holy Spirit, power (and the list goes on and on), are ours. Those who rebel have no claim to any of these. They unfortunately have the guilt of sin, bondage (slavery to sin), suffering, and spiritual defeat to deal with. Some have a warm and fuzzy feeling about possessing some of the blessings, yet scripture would tell us that outside of obedience and commitment to Christ, such feelings come from a false sense of security.
Today, consider how rich His blessings are, whether it's deliverance from the curses of sin, being holy because He is holy, hope of life eternal, living a new life with promises of peace and protection, or simply being loved, meditate on the depth of His blessings in your life. Take strength from your knowledge of Him. Keep a firm grip on Him so that you don't run the risk of Satan leading you away in rebellion through deception and worldliness.
Shortly before Jesus was taken back up into heaven, He told His disciples that a day was soon coming, when they who lived in the world would see Him (physically with their eyes) no more. Then He comforted them saying, "but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you." (John 14:19-20) That day came and went for those people, but the promise continues today for all of us. Christ, if we have obeyed Him and do not live in rebellion, lives in us and because of that, God "has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ." (Eph 1:3)
Can it get any better than that?
