Slipping You the Sleeping Pill (Part 2 of 2)

BUT…

HIS GRACE DOESN’T MEAN, believe in Jesus and continue in your sin. We must understand that. Christians… we are SLEEPING! Jesus said, “Your sins are forgiven. Go and sin no  more.” Let that soak in. Go and sin no more. Not, “You’re a sinner anyways, so don’t worry about it.” Not, “Go to church and you’re good.” Not, “Just be a good person and make the world a better place.” No. He said, “Go and sin no more.”

Are you living by the words of Jesus? Jesus summed up the whole of the law: “You shall love the LORD thy God with all of your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and all your strength.” (Luke 10:27) Is the LORD, your God, at the center of your life? Do you look to His will to lead your life? Do you hate sin?

Other gods and Their Pills

If you do not hate sin, then you have sin in your life and you love it more than you love God. Whatever you spend the most time thinking about that, that is your god. Whatever you long for the most, that is your god. Whatever has power over you to do the things which God detests, that is your god. And these gods will numb you and drift you off to a spiritual coma if they can help it.

For some people, it’s their entertainment–television, movies, video games, gambling, sports, etc. While for most of these things, there might be “nothing wrong” in and of themselves, ask yourself if it’s something that has control over you? Is it something that is dragging you down and keeping you from spending time with God? Is it that important to you that you’re willing to input into your mind images glorifying witchcraft, fornication, vampirism, psychic “powers,” etc. These are all things God hates.

For others, sin is revealed in their speech. “For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.” (Matthew 12:34) Do you curse? Do you tell “white lies”? Do you engage in gossiping?  These are all things God hates.

For others, still, their god is self-centeredness, as manifested in pride (I have more sophisticated opinions than what the antiquated Bible says), greed (Money, money, money, material possessions, and making more money), covetousness (I can’t wait to have this, or that… I wish I had that), etc.

Where is Your Identity?

Why do I tell you all these things? To say, “I am so much better than you–I don’t do all these things?” No. To say, “You need to do what I say and be a Christian in this and this way?” No.

I tell you all these things because we need to take a long and serious look in the mirror. Do you see Christ looking back at you? Don’t check out of reality–and this world and what it offers is NOT reality. Are you of it? Does everyone like you because you never offend anyone with the name of Jesus Christ? Do you go along with whatever NPR insinuates is the right thing to do for “equality,” “environmentalism,” “civil rights” (as I used to do, thinking that I was an educated and sophisticated person)? This is not political, but I just mean to ask you, do you understand that many issues are packaged as doing good when, in reality, they seek to destroy Godly principles? It’s one of the sleeping pills*.

You say you would do anything for your children, but are you leading them to the source of life, or are you leading them in your example, by our inaction and spiritual passivity to the wide road of death? Another sleeping pill.

We call ourselves “Christian”… that means our identity needs to be in Christ. He is the model we follow. Don’t fall for the identity theft Satan wants to seduce you into.

How to Claim Your Inheritance

When we accept Jesus as Savior and Lord of our lives, we are adopted by God as His children.  You have heard that before. However, please understand it.

There is no such thing as a “liberal” Christian, a “right-wing” Christian, a “moderate” Christian, a “fundamentalist” Christian, etc. You are either following Jesus Christ or you are doing your own thing. That’s it. We do not make God into our own image. Jesus said, “I am THE way, THE truth, THE life.” He did not say, “I am one of your options for enlightenment or for living a good and moral life.” We need to understand what this means and live out this understanding, because it’s the only reality that we can rely on.

Reject sin. Push it away. It is not how God wants or expects us to live. Ask God to show you if there is any iniquity in your heart that needs to be dealt with. We need to repent. God has been so patient with us, but His patience WILL run out, and this world will be judged. Don’t be a part of this world! Repentance IS turning away. God will fill us with the Holy Spirit to HELP us take the narrow road. Reject sin every time. And know that, once you make the decision to do this, the enemy will come stronger at you. Stand firm. And pray. If you fall, repent immediately and get back into walking in holiness again.

This is the new birth–when the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin and we submit to God to be LORD of our lives. It’s the death of the “old man” and all the desires of the flesh that came with, because we now want to do what pleases God. And we love Him and want to honor Him because of all of His love for us.

Let’s not play church. Let’s not play with Jesus. We are the children of God–WAKE UP TO THIS WONDERFUL JOY!

*I am not promoting political activism in either direction. I firmly believe the entire system is corrupt and we should not presume we will fix it with our earthly efforts. Having said that, stand for what is right before God, and be aware of the agendas that are getting pushed.