I'm sure you've noticed that I don't blog very often...the reason for that is because as the Bible instructs I don't believe in idle chatter that has no purpose. I only add a blog post when a subject comes up that I feel is blog worthy.
Also you will find that I don't mention third party's names purely because I don't feel right in doing this, unless I feel it is necessary and then I will only mention that person's relation to me.
Having said this there is a person in my life who I have recently been ministering to and trusting the Lord to them to Him as He did with me.
Recently this person came to a very profound thought which they mentioned to me and the thought was simply this - What Makes You a Christian?
This made me think of the time when I was 16/17 years old working with KAM (Kingdom Advancement Ministries) and the question we always used to ask people who we worked with for salvation counselling was "If you died right now, are you sure of where you are going?" some people were not sure, other's firmly believed they were going to Heaven without a doubt their theory being that they were good people, they read their Bible, they went to church every Sunday, and they were good people and believed that all this made them a Christian worthy of going to Heaven. And this happened to be the same thing that this person in my life said to me only that they believed even in doing these things there still is no guarantee.
So I've decided to address each of these 3 key issues and break it down into more understandable and digestible sections.
1. Does reading your Bible make you a Christian? No. Anybody can read a Bible, unless you can't read. in fact and this will shock you beyond belief - even demons know the Word of God, in fact better than most people do. It can be very disconcerting when in a deliverance session you make a mistake when it comes to scripture and the demon corrects you, not to mention a tad embarrassing.
Anybody can read a Bible....the trick is in the understanding of the Bible and I don't mean in the language like you would say you understand English. No, I mean understanding and vision only The Holy Spirit can give you. You say you're a Christian because you read your Bible but do you have a deeper understanding of what you are reading? do you understand what God is saying to you? do you hear Him speaking to you through the scriptures? do you find yourself learning lessons and life applications through what you read? do you receive revelation and vision through what you read? or are you just reading a "story book" as some believe the Bible to be.
2. Does going to Church make you a Christian? No. Anybody can go to church every Sunday, all are welcome. In fact even a satanist is capable of going to church believe it or not....I was told this story over 2 years ago so I don't remember the exact details. However, in a short sentence there was a case of a high priestess of a satanic cult who pastor ed a Christian church for a number of years before she was caught. No, she didn't teach Christian doctrine, her purpose was to warp as many minds as possible.
So, as I said, anybody can go to church. You can sit in that seat in church until your bumb cheeks turn purple and fall off, it will not make you a Christian.
3. Does being a good person make you a Christian? No. A good person by who's standards? your's? or God's? and if you measure it by God's standards would you be found guilty or innocent? and if guilty, of how many sins? I'll give you a moment to think about this one, jut take a minute and measure yourself by God's standards - I'll give you a moment >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Tick Tock, Tick Tock >>>>>>>>>>>> Times up. I think you would agree that measured by God's standard's we are not good people and although we believe we are good people that deserve to go to Heaven, let me remind you that we deserve nothing......ask yourself this question...... if your supposed goodness had to be measured by God's standards and He had to give us our just deserts.....what would we get? Again, measured by God's standards, what exactly do we deserve?
So in conclusion, no, none of these things makes you a Christian. But I'll tell you what does, coming before God as a sinner, repenting of your sins and your past and asking Him to take over your life and giving Jesus complete control of every single part of you and your life, that is what makes you a true Christian. A true Christian knows Jesus intimately and personally, a true Christian walks in a constant relationship and even conversation with Jesus, a true Christian's most valuable relationship in life is with his Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and it is a relationship that he spends time nurturing and building and growing and spends time getting closer to Jesus and getting to know Him better.
Complete surrender to Jesus that is what makes you a Christian and guarantees your path into Heaven. Having the Holy Spirit as your comforter, teacher and guide only comes when you surrender and completely give yourself to Jesus.
Remember what we deserve as sinners is a fiery death of torture and torment in hell for all eternity, but because of Jesus' sacrifice we are saved by Grace and because of Jesus' sacrifice once you surrender completely to Him, God looks at you through blood stained eyes (The Blood of the Lamb), and He sees you as perfect and whole and as He meant you to be, His beautiful creation, created in His image.
I can tell you from experience that there is no better or more loving relationship than the one we are invited to have with Jesus. I have never experienced more peace and tranquility in His presence and knowing that He is mine and I am His. Sometimes I lose all track of time when I spend time with Him in His presence....but do you think I care.....that's my happy place :P
As a quick thought I decided to add this link, it's a song by Jesus Culture that has recently really grabbed me and is a song that of the type I have never heard before. It is basically God singing to you.........or to mankind, but I prefer to personalize this song when I listen to it :)
Enjoy
Jesus Culture - Come Away
No comments:
Post a Comment