What I say here, I'm saying as a friend whose own past failings coupled with Christ's sacrifice make me nothing more or less than a child of God's grace - one who recognizes the wealth of what he himself has yet to understand. Still, it's my hope to touch a nerve - one that brings to life a complacent soul somewhere among my fellow sojourners following Christ...
There seems to be some misunderstandings by some who're enamored of calling themselves "Christian". They may be well meaning and even intent on following the path God's laid out, but took something worldly that was injected into their understanding and ran with it.
There are a number of possible examples, but as example here let's think about the word "hate". There's much said about hate in society and there are those even among Christians who've bought into the idea that we're not to hate anything... Really? Consider the following scripture and be aware that I could go on and on...
"All who fear the LORD will hate evil. Therefore, I hate pride and arrogance, corruption and perverse speech." Proverbs 8:13 (NLT)
"Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good." Romans 12:9 (NLT)
Father God said this about Christ: "You love justice and hate evil. Therefore, O God, your God has anointed you, pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else.” Hebrews 1:9 (NLT)
satan himself knows scripture far better than we and he uses it for his own means where allowed. We're walking through a corrupt, deceptive world on our way to where we belong and the path to get there is littered on each side with the corrupted and deceptive teachings of men who consider themselves an authority. If we listened to them without checking them carefully against what God Himself has said, we could find ourselves desperately lost and disappointed.
"For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God’s chosen ones. Watch out! I have warned you about this ahead of time!" Mark 13:12-13 (NLT)
That's why no one should ever just rely alone on what men say about what God's said. There are of course those who are in fact ordained by our God to teach us, correct and encourage us along the way and I thank God for them, but how do we know the difference? - By continually reading the scriptures for ourselves with an earnest desire to understand what God's telling us. The world will wreck us with it's corrupted intellect, understanding and desires and even those we've learned to trust are still human - subject to occasional mistakes, but our God will never allow us to be misled if we're faithful to earnestly seek Him out rather than relying solely on men.
"No, O people, the LORD has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." Micah 6:8 (NLT)
How do we know for sure what is good? What is right? Or the true meaning of mercy and what it means to walk humbly before God? - God's told us, but we have to study what He's said in order to truly know for ourselves. As a young man in high school I was given some sage advice: "Never take a man's word alone for what God is telling you from scripture - read it for yourself and ask the Holy Spirit for understanding of it." I'm getting to be an old man now, but for all of these years, it's served me so well!
I'll leave you with this:
"...they stumble because they do not obey God’s word, and so they meet the fate that was planned for them. But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. “Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.”" 1 Peter 2:8-10 (NLT)
... Know it, honor it and Him, and travel safely in His care. Because of Jesus Christ's sacrifice and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit,... We've got this! ... and so much more.
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