Kinda long, but worth the read. Standards; Choice or Lifestyle? Standards – Those morals, ethics, habits, ect…, established by an authority, custom or individual as acceptable; a rule or principle that is used as a basis for judgment (Dictionary). A flag or emblem. (Webster) Battle Standards – A flag or emblem carried into battle that would identify a troop, squad, or army on the field of battle. (Acts 5:1-11) Ananias and Sapphira – Do we act one way in front of man and another to the Holy Spirit? Do we say we are good Christians boasting of our righteousness and good deeds but most if not all of these are lies? (Mark 3:29, Matthew 12:31) Do Not blaspheme the Holy Spirit. Or deeply grieve Him. It will not be forgiven in THIS AGE or THE AGE TO COME. Ananias and Sapphira thought they could get away with giving part and not all. Seems harmless enough seeing as how it was more than 10%, however as we see in (Acts 4:32-37) the whole church was evenly distributing ALL money or material gain or profit, so they (Knowing This) pretended to give all to the church but kept some for themselves, when confronted they lied and hid the truth. How many times does the Holy Spirit ask something of us and we “appear” compliant but in reality we conceal (from earthly eyes) that we only gave part. In (Matthew 5:33-37) we hear Jesus say, “37: All you need say is simply, ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.” So when asked simply answer Yes, or No. AND FOLLOW THROUGH! This is where our standards come into play; The Bible is a guide book to life and is full of ordinances and commands from God. Yet we “muddy” our standards by assuming we are better than God and saying… “What Jesus REALLY meant was……” (Hebrews 13:8) shows us that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, so what He says goes, don’t question just strive. We see modern day Christians aren’t even Christians most times. Christians – Exhibiting a spirit proper to a follower of Jesus Christ; Christlike (Dictionary). Even worldly sources define it as Christ likeness. So where did we stop following Christ? Or striving to be like Him? (John 1:1) the Word is God from the beginning. (John 1:14) The word became flesh and dwelled among us. (Jesus) So to profess “Christianity” or “Christlikeness” we must become like the Word, or filter our lives through the Word… When was the last time we did this? From Acts to Jude we see that even the early church realized the need to change this conundrum, so there is a new guideline by which we strive. Grace (Romans 8:1-2)(Ephesians 1:3) is the empowerment to NOT sin. And the forgiveness when it happens to turn condemnation into conviction… which EMPOWERS us NOT TO SIN!!! How exciting is this! We can actually live ABOVE sin, but still so many times now days we see the lack of Standards (Regulations made for freeing us from sin) which are laid out for us in clear black and white, simply due to a lack of the knowledge of the Word of God. Read God’s Word! It will change your whole perspective on things. You won’t dance next to a sin line. But rather run a good race… away from the sin line. Just remember what happens when standards aren’t followed (Revelations 3:16)(1 John 2:15) we become lukewarm and will be spit out, the people that have never been Christian that you judge so harshly are better off than you on the day of judgment than you who cannot follow God’s decrees but knew of them. We are ALL made in the image of God (Luke 15:11-32) and God is awaiting each and every person’s return expectantly as the parable of the prodigal son affirms to us. So before you condemn someone based on their sin. (Matthew 7:3) Pull the log from your eye first then remove the speck from your neighbors. Them smoking or cussing is an unknown sin to them. They are in the world and cannot perceive that this would be considered wrong. Whereas you judging them as a Christian is CLEARLY wrong (Matthew 7:1-2) So instead be love to them in the best way we know how… By being like Christ. (1 John 4:7) Next time you step out into the world remember (Ephesians 6:12) we do not battle with flesh and blood, but spirits and principalities of this dark age. So love like Christ loved us (Romans 5:8) and selflessly love those who yet sin. Take up Gods standards so that on the battlefield of life he can identify you. Instead of you having “Half standards” which are lukewarm-ness. He will spew you out if your standards are not resolutely His. Strive every day to love Him and others more, Strive every day for a closer communion with Him, Strive every day to read more of His Word, and strive every day to use grace’s empowerment to NOT SIN, not to dwell IN SIN. I implore you as one who deeply loves you and therefore doesn’t want to see you fall.
Posted on: Tue, 01 Oct 2013 17:36:23 +0000
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