Paraplegia Killed the Christian

"Many of us have been too content with a paraplegic faith instead of a strong, capable, active faith. Faith saves, but it also longs and progresses." ~Trip Lee

God calls to us each day, offering a hand as we step out in faith. But what does it mean to have faith? Faith is something we believe in and put our trust in, but it is not what allows us to answer God's calling. If we have only faith, then we are missing part of the picture, because God calls us to obey first and foremost. Then, if we act in obedience to Him, the faith part is already taken care of!

Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. ~James 2:18 (NKJV)

Do you ever long to hear God's voice? Why does it take so much faith just to discern what God calls us to in life? I think that half of the answer, most of the time, is found by doing what we know we should do, not usually what we want to do inherently. And often times, God speaks louder the closer we get to what He's talking about.

The Antediluvian Heart

The below text is from a "Days of Praise" post by Henry Morris of the Institute for Creation Research organization.

And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. ~Genesis 6:5-6 (KJV)

These two verses, describing the incurable wickedness of the antediluvian world which finally brought on the global Flood, contain the first two of over a thousand occurrences of the word “heart” in the Bible. Note the contrast: man’s heart was evil; God’s heart was grieved.

Both the Hebrew and Greek languages treated the heart as the center of a person’s being, the seat of all feelings and thoughts, and we do the same in English. The writers knew that the heart was a physical organ, with its function of circulating the blood as basic to physical life. Leviticus 17:11, among other Scriptures, notes that “the life of the flesh is in the blood,” but only rarely was the word used thus in Scripture. Nearly always the word is used symbolically in reference to the deep essence of a person’s being. It is also used occasionally to refer to the innermost part of physical objects (e.g., “the heart of the earth,” as in Matthew 12:40).

In this first occurrence it refers to the “thoughts” of the heart. Somehow, before one thinks with his mind, he thinks with his heart, and these deep, unspoken thoughts will determine the way he reasons with his brain. Jesus confirmed this in Mark 7:21: “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts.”

How important it is, then, to maintain a heart that is pure. In fact, in sharp contrast to the first occurrence of “heart” in the Old Testament referring to man’s evil thoughts, the first occurrence in the New Testament is in the gracious promise of Christ: “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8).

Redefined Sinner

"You should be content with God’s plan for your life and rest in his forgiving grace, but as a sinner, you should never be satisfied with who you are." ~Paul Tripp

This quote speaks of a life outlook. Every time we go about life without being intentional pray-ers or when we pray only in thankfulness of what God has done (His past glory) without thought to how He can be further glorified both in our lives and through our lives, then we are acting as though we are satisfied with ourselves. The life outlook I believe we should have is asking God where in our lives we are still not good enough, where we are still sinning, and where we could be growing in Him. He longs to share that information with us, but only when we are ready to push ourselves in that direction. Our goal is singular, but we should never allow ourselves to fully achieve it until the day He finally returns for us.

"Let everything I do satisfy your love for me." ~Yours Truly (Inspired by Psalm 19)

Of course, this next quote, above, is a bit of a paradox in more than one way, but it is a good expression of our desire to be better people for God's sake. We should do all that we can to please Him, seeing as that's what He made us for; and in order to do that better, we should continually look to refine ourselves as Christians and redefine our sinful life patterns. It's not always easy to see where our faults are, or where we could be better acknowledging God, but the cool part is that God knows it all, so all we have to do is ask!

Use the Spirit, Luke!

For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. ~2 Timothy 1:7 (NIV)

Ever wondered why the Holy Spirit doesn't get much credit? One possibility actually has to do with Star Wars. Yeah, there are several correlations between the Force and the Spirit, such as their omnipotence, omnipresence, and ability to be summoned by a specific minority. There is, however, a huge difference. The Force is a thing. I don't recall Luke Skywalker ever asking the Force if it would come help him out, but rather, Luke seemed to harness and use the Force out of his own ability to do so. The Holy Spirit and His power are very different. First of all, the Spirit is God, and thus not a thing but a person. Second, an important thing for us to remember is that the power of the spirit never comes from us, for there is nothing good in us. The power we have in God comes when we invite His Spirit to be the one who works in, with, and through us.

Here is one example I heard about the power of the Spirit. If you had a large piece of furniture to move, but it was too much for you to move alone, and you had a close friend who could do it with the flick of a wrist, what would you do? Would you attempt to move the piece of furniture by wielding the power of your friend and doing it yourself that way? Not likely. You would give your friend a call, and they would come over and help you do it. The challenge for us here is to remember where our strength comes from. There aren't many things that we can do on our own, and everything we can do usually ends up being worthless. So examine where in your life you are trying to do things on your own, and instead, try asking God to send his empowering Spirit to aid you in ever aspect of your life.

The Future Now

"This moment is all that matters. The future is now." -Lecrae

Live for the future, in the now. By this I mean that we should, first of all, not be living for the moment. We live for Christ and the life He promises is to come, and in doing so we realize how every moment, thought and action is done for the future. We should also live in the now, meaning that we should not fight our battles in the future, nor should we fight past battles and dwell on our victories or losses. With each new day, we should have an outlook that fights the sin of that day, fights to make that day worth God's protection, and not be thinking of life in the bigger picture lest we give up on the battle at hand.

Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit'— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.' ~James 4:13-15 (ESV)

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. ~Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

For Future Reference...

Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. ~2 Corinthians 7:1 (NKJV)

Light exposes. God represents the light, He created the light, He is the light, and therefore His presence in our lives must expose the sin in us and do away with it before we can fully come to Him. If we think we are in communion with the almighty God and His moving Spirit, yet there is something that lies in the way, then we are deceived and have not been exposed to the hidden sins that must come to repentance. If we truly fear God, we should come to Him with prayer, asking to be made right in every way.

How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart?

Cleanse me from these hidden faults. ~Psalms 19:12

There is an important note on the fact that we are indeed saved from our sins by grace and made perfect in the sight of God through His Son; it is this: we are saved in the future. What do I mean by that? I mean that we can never be perfect on this side of heaven and that in this life we will neither be seen as such. There are always those hidden faults of which do not know, and the only way we are saved from them is because God promises to keep Jesus before us on the day he judges the earth.

Sometimes we need to take a step back and examine where in our lives we could be growing, purifying, confronting God about, and making better. We don't always see or notice when our attitudes are less than ideal or our thoughts are sinful, but as long as we continually delve into God's magnificent instruction booklet for our lives and do so with prayer, asking that He will indeed reveal to us what He considers sin in our lives, He will honor it and show us how to become more Godly and God-fearing children.

He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. ~Micah 7:19 (ESV)

The Peace Paradox

“Enemy-occupied territory---that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us to take part in a great campaign of sabotage.” ~C.S. Lewis

What do you say to the person who questions Jesus' deity? They conclude that, because this world is full of war, death, disease, conflict (and it's on the news every day), the acclaimed "Prince of Peace" is either a fraud or he's not strong enough to hold the peace he vowed to bring. While we sit around a warm cackling fire, a tree full of marvelous gifts, and tables full of wonderful food, there are riots going on against police, terrorists attacking elementary schools, and starvation raging across whole nations. Obviously this story of a savior being born to bring peace to a broken world holds no meaning or merit.

 

Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. ~Matthew 10:34 (NIV)

Sin will always wage war with peace on this earth. Jesus could force the world into order and sinners to repent, but he doesn't. What he did do was give us a way out. He brought "the sword" because his offer of true peace would split people apart. Jesus made followers, yes, but he also made enemies. The Word is a double-edged sword, and Jesus brought the truth of the Word to all peoples.

A Famous T-shirt logo, but very true when you think about it!

It is true that the peace Jesus brought was not one that would bring "world peace," but spiritual peace for those who choose to know him. It doesn't end there though, because simply knowing Jesus won't necessarily make your life nice and rosy. Sin makes life hard for us no matter where we stand, but Jesus promises that if we follow him, the Prince of Peace, we can find peace and comfort amidst hardships of many kinds.

I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world. ~John 16:33 (ESV)