Pressing On Toward the Goal Phil. 3:12-21

Please read the previous two posts before this one. It's very important for this is how I know God is writing these. Thank you.

Philippians 3:12-21

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining for what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

We have not already attained everything written about so far in the other posts. We have not truly started our new life in heaven, and we have not received our new bodies that are free of the sinful nature that plagues us. We are not perfect right now. We have not taken hold of it yet. But we must strain forward and not stop moving. Because Jesus Christ took hold of us. Since He took hold of us we shouldn't stop until we have taken hold of it. So we should forget about what is behind and strain toward what is ahead. Our sins are already forgiven and in our past. One of the biggest struggles I've had is condemning myself for my sin to the point that I start believing God hasn't forgiven me. Verse 13 has been the greatest help in that. For Jesus died in the past and took all of our sins. So forget the sins of your past for which you have repented, for it is all forgiven and gone. So we now are free to strain toward what is ahead, and that is life with Jesus Christ. And that is the prize which God has called us heavenward for.

Paul says that anyone who is mature should have this mentality. Why slip that in there? The reason is a question: How can a person chained to an immovable wall move forward? If we continue condemning ourselves and focusing on our sins, we can't be free to do what He wants us to. It would be like God telling us to go to a field so He can tell us to reap a harvest, but we say no I want to stay with the dust and ashes in the fireplace. But we must give up our sins to Him and let Him push us forward so He can do His good works through us. We must live up to what we have already attained: His Love and Forgiveness.

I separated the middle of this paragraph because it was too profound to skip over. The sentence in the middle of these in this section of the passage is another piece of Scripture that has become important to me. Paul says that if on some point you think differently, God will make it clear to you. So often I found Scripture that I just couldn't understand or that had a meaning I just thought did not work with the rest of the Bible. 1 John 3 is a great example. But it also works as an example in that God showed me how it fits. Sometimes it takes reading a lot of other Scripture, sometimes it takes some years of blessings or trials. But God does reveal what His words mean. And that too is something to realize about the Bible. It is not meant for a man to read and figure out it what it means on his own. The Bible is meant to be read with humility and an understanding that we don't know what we are truly reading. The Bible is what God reveals it to be. Those who do His Will as they learn it grow closer to Him and are able to hear His voice more clearly through the Holy Spirit. But those who do not do God's Will, hear Him less and less. Their hearts harden, and they do not know what His words truly mean. So have patience when reading the Scripture, and let God reveal what He will when He will.

In the next section Paul writes that all should take notice of those who live according to the pattern given. To live righteous lives according to the Scriptures that God reveals while constantly straining toward the Holy future that is ahead of us all. We should live by the example set by those who truly live for God and not of those in this world. One only has to go onto any other page of the very internet this post is being read with to see the evils filling this world. As Paul said, I say now with my own experiences and knowing what I have seen, "For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ." How numerous they are I do not know. But if it does not break our hearts to see even one person that does not believe, we have something wrong with us. For there is no sadder sight than someone who does not want the Love and Grace of Jesus, some who even declare a hatred for it. These people have nothing. They live for nothing but the "glory" they feel in their shameful actions. They live each day, just to get to tomorrow. The world is truly a living graveyard.

But... not all people in this world are dead. If that were true, I would not be writing this, and you would not be reading it. There are Christians in every part of the world. So many are dying yes, but, they know Paul's next point. That we are citizens of heaven. And we are all eagerly awaiting a Savior, Jesus Christ, to take us there. And when He does so, He will take us and give us new bodies free of the sinful nature that plagues us. And we will start our life with Him in perfection. So we are lights in this world to remind others that there is more to this life than living for the next vacation or party. We live now, to have life in heaven.

We are free from our sins, but not our sinful nature. We are dead to this world, but we still have to live in it. We are alive in Christ, but we do not yet live with Him in heaven. One can dwell on all these things, but then that would be dwelling in the past. How is the present the past? How can you divide 80-100 years by eternity? God is eternal. He is our tomorrow and our time. He is truly everything for us. I write these things not understanding them, but having the feeling that God is writing them and telling me just how little how know. So I write, let us strain toward that time that we do not yet know, for that body we do not yet have, and to see the Face we haven't yet received the honor of seeing. Our job as Christians is not yet over. It is only over when we are taken to heaven by Jesus Christ. What a Joyful day that will be, but also a mournful one. So let us go out and put the past behind us, so that God can do the Good He wants to do for those around us.

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen

Which Side is One-Sided?

Please make sure to have read the previous post before reading this one. Thank you.

Romans 7:7-25 says:

What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, "Do not covet." But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead. Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.
Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

So to begin, the Law shows us our sins and seems to make our sins real and deadly. Does this mean the Law is sinful and causes us to sin? No. Paul tells us that the Law is holy, righteous and good. The Law is the instruction for living the life that God wants for us. It is His good perfect and pleasing will. So then, where does the sin come from? The sins we commit come from the sinful nature that is within our bodies. When the sinful nature reaches our hearts, our hearts desire to satisfy the needs of the body. This is sin when our sinful nature takes the opportunity presented by God's law and leads us to sin against Him. The Law itself is not sinful. It shows us just what our sinful nature truly is: The source of all our evil desires and sinful ways. This why Paul says we are unspiritual slaves to our sin. When we give in to sin, we give in to the evil nature within our bodies. There is nothing good within our bodies. So then, where does the good come from? James 1:17 says,

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

All the desires to do good works and the good works themselves come from God. When Jesus died, the Holy Spirit became one with our spirit, and we know this is true in our minds. Because of this, we are free from our sin because He took our punishment. This is why we no longer desire to sin, but to instead do good by following the Law in Love and freedom. But our sinful nature still exists within our bodies. What does all this result in? It results in our bodies having a law of sin and our spirits having the Law of God. And each law fights to control our hearts, the source of who we are on the outside. So when we desire to do good, evil desires are right there at the same time.

There are three things to realize and do about this. The first is to realize that even though we still have a sinful nature, we are not still due for punishment for our sins. When Jesus died on the cross, He forgave us for all of our sins that we will ever commit in our lives. We are free from them. So even though we might give in to our sinful nature at times, we are still forgiven for each of those times.
The second is that even though our bodies are stuck with a sinful nature that wars with the Holy Spirit inside of us, it does not mean that we cannot work to make that fight one-sided. Looking back at the cycle from the previous post, the Holy Spirit condemns us with our hearts and causes us to go to God in repentance with a desire to change. We then grow closer to God and He causes the Holy Spirit to change us and work through us to do His will (the proof of our salvation in Him). Then the Holy Spirit teaches us more and we see more of what we do wrong and are led again in repentance. The cycle repeats over and over throughout our lives without end, growing stronger each time. And each time we do this cycle and follow God's commands that He made for us to follow in order to have a good life in Him, He gets control over more and more of our hearts. So even though we can't get rid of this sinful nature, it is possible to make the war within us one-sided in God's favor.
The third and last thing is that when our time comes to leave this earth, the sinful nature does not come with us. It is only within our bodies, and we will leave those behind for the new bodies God has promised us. So starting the moment we see His face, we will have no desires for any sinful things. And this will last all eternity. This war within us will end on that day with God as the victor as long as we are willing to make Him the victor. This is all thanks to Jesus Christ, whose sacrifice paid for our sins for all time.

So what is the Law to us now? It is a means to see how forgiven we are and is proof that we are forgiven. The Law is not to be forgotten. I encourage everyone to read about the written Law in the Old Testament so that you may know what is truly sinful within you. It is sobering, but also Joyful to know that I don't have to worry about the punishment for it all any longer. We are free from our sins already. So why should we allow ourselves to live according to our sinful natures? We should do everything we can to ensure that God is winning the war within us. That He has control of our hearts and causes us to live in Love and Joy for Him.

The Proof is in the Small Voice

1 John 3:4-10

Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.

This passage has been a great deal of struggle and confusion for me ever since I first read it. I've even blogged about it before, but now I feel it was done wrongly the first time. At first I took it for what it said, if you sin you are of the devil and you are not part of God. So I thought, if I don't do everything right then I have no salvation. But I went through the law in the Old Testament and found that living without sin is impossible. I went through a time of doubt and depression and my speech was similar to that of Solomon in Ecclesiastes. But then I read Romans 4:1-11.

What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about-but not before God. What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."
Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

"Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD will never count against him."

Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness. Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.

Paul says here that Abraham was declared righteous in his faith in God. He says that it is not works that saves a man but his faith in Jesus Christ's sacrifice that brings him salvation. And this is absolutely correct. But what was John saying in 1John 3:4-10? Further down the page in 1John 3:16-24 it says,

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jess Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us!

When Jesus died on the cross, He knew us. He knew every sin we would ever commit from our birth to our death. And He forgave us for them all. He took them all away forever. When we have faith in that, we are saved and receive His gift of Salvation. We come to Him with repentance for all the sins we have committed according to His Law. And when we repent for all of them, He takes them all away from the beginning of our life to the end of it. Therefore, we no longer sin in this life because they were all taken away before they were committed. The Israelites written of in the books of the Prophets were sinners because even though they brought the sacrifices, they committed more and more sins and repented for none of them. They sinned because they did not break or acknowledge their sin. So they were declared sinful. But those who had done the same actions and who repented for them were declared righteous. So through our repentance and faith in Jesus Christ we are no longer sinful, we are saved.

So where then is the room for works? They are the evidence that we are saved. When we are saved by Jesus and forgiven, the Holy Spirit comes into our hearts and fills us. The Holy Spirit's coming into us is the evidence of our forgiveness. Then the evidence of the Holy Spirit being in us is the condemnation we receive when we do something wrong. This condemnation brings us to repent and come to Jesus. It also leads us to stop committing the wrongs. When we do these two things, we are brought closer to Jesus. And as we grow closer, we hear the Holy Spirit more and more. He teaches us more and shows us more of what we do wrong, which He condemns us for. And this brings us full circle to Jesus in repentance with a desire to change and to live for Him. So our works are the product of Holy Spirit changing and condemning us, which is evidence of our Salvation in Jesus Christ. It's a cycle that never ends, because there is always something to change until the end of our days. Therefore it is truly not our actions that save us, but our faith. And our actions prove our faith.

There is one last part to go over in 1John 3:21. There are 2 times when we are not condemned by the Holy Spirit. There is an immeasurable difference between the two, but it can be easy to misjudge between them. The first is when we ignore the Holy Spirit's condemnation. As we ignore Him His voice grows quiet. If it's continued, eventually the voice is gone. We stop being repentant for our sins and we are given over to our sin. For forgiveness cannot be accepted unless the one who accepts that forgiveness acknowledges that there is something to be forgiven for. If we don't repent, then we sin. This is the case for a believer who turns away and thinks there is nothing wrong with the things they do.
The second time there is no condemnation is when we no longer do anything wrong in our lives and are able to see God's Will. That is why the passage says that when this is done, we can ask for anything and receive it. For we will be able to ask for God's Will to be done and truly have that be what we want.

This entire post can be summed up in Luke 6:43-45,

"No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn bushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.

The Holy Spirit comes into our hearts through faith and changes us to allow us to bear good fruit: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-control. And against such things there is no law. So listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit within you as He overpowers the sinful nature of your hearts. And you will begin to feel the true power of the Salvation of Jesus Christ. Do not ignore Him for one second, for it could send you down a spiral of sin as I have experienced before. And it is not something that any of us should waste part of what little time we have on earth doing. So instead, listen to the small voice within. And as you do, it will grow louder and louder, and you'll find your voice saying the same things within your heart. Let us share our salvation with the evidence of our works through His Love.

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen

Everyone Could Be Clean

Acts 10:9-35 says,

About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air. Then a voice told him, "Get up Peter. Kill and eat."
"Surely not Lord!" Peter replied. "I have never eaten anything impure of unclean."
The voice spoke to him a second time, "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean."
This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.
While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon's house was and stopped at the gate. They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there.
While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, "Simon, three men are looking for you. So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them."
Peter went down and said to the men, "I'm the one you're looking for. Why have you come?"
The men replied, "We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to have you come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say." Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests.
The next day Peter started out with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa went along. The following day he arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence. But Peter made him get up. "Stand up," he said, "I am only a man myself."
Talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people. He said to them: "You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection. May I ask why you sent for me?"
Cornelius answered: "Four days ago I was in my house praying at this hour, at three in the afternoon. Suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before me and said, 'Cornelius, God has heard you prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor. Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He is a guest in the home of Simon the tanner, who lives by the sea.' So I sent for you immediately, and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us."
Then Peter began to speak: "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.

Almost the entire passage is from Peter's perspective. Remember this through out this post.

When the Lord gave Peter the vision, Peter acted the way he always knew he should according to the Law. He refused because the animals were declared unclean. But the Lord told him not to call anything impure that He had made clean. Peter had trouble understanding what this meant at first, as did I. Every time I had read this I glazed over it and thought that it meant that if it was a direct creation of God (animals, water, dirt, etc.) then it wasn't unclean. Which coincides with Jesus words about what goes into ma's stomach cannot make him unclean. But there was more to this passage in Acts. When Peter went with the men and met Cornelius, he heard of Cornelius' faith in God and his righteous actions. How Cornelius prayed to God, gave to the poor, and had himself been told by one of the Lord's angels to send for Peter. Peter realized the meaning of his vision and of the Lord's words: "But God has shown me the I should not call any man impure or unclean." This is all good, but why should no man be declared unclean I thought? Why should we not see a murdering rapist and say that he is unclean? Two reasons. The first is that we cannot see other peoples' hearts. There could be anything going on in another person's heart. That criminal could have asked God for forgiveness and became a Christian after his crime. And spend the rest of his time in prison seeking God and sharing the Gospel with others. I even doubt this scenario as I type it, but how do I know it hasn't happened? I do not know the hearts of all the criminals of the world, I barely know my own. Which leads to the second reason, we are all considered unclean by the Law. We so often forget just how bad of a punishment we deserve according to the Law. We don't even see our hearts properly. But Jesus has seen ALL of our hearts. He saw them all as He bled and suffocated on the cross. As HIS body broke when He took our punishment. We do not get to judge who is clean or not. We do not get to judge others by their past for we do not know whether they are saved by Jesus. We can only openly speak of the Gospel to any and all people. For it is as Peter said that God does not show favoritism, but accepts anyone who fears Him does what is right.
Cornelius was a Gentile who did everything God asked of him and in this became a Law for himself in God's name. Too often there are people like Cornelius in the world, but we act like Peter and say we cannot go near what makes us unclean. We pick and choose who we want to share the Gospel with. But we need to realize, that if God showed favoritism when He chose who to save, He could have left us out of the list of those who received His Grace. But He did not do that. So why do we? How do we stop?
Verses 25 and 26 say, As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him ad fell at his feet in reverence. But Peter made him get up. "Stand up," he said, "I am only a man myself." Cornelius was a Gentile, and ,in the opinion of the Jews like Peter, was lesser. But Peter told him to stand back up. Peter saw Cornelius as another man just like himself. He didn't have a greater regard for himself, but saw Cornelius as another servant of God. This is the answer. We don't talk about God with everyone else because we forget that they are all real people whom God Loves and who need forgiveness just like us. So the biggest change we can ask God to make in us is to show us how to see those around us as real people like us. Real people who could be lost without Jesus or who could be someone struggling with their walk with God, or who could be a fellow believer that God put there to give us encouragement throughout the day. Everyone is a person, and everyone could be anything. Everyone else could become clean. So until we know that everyone around us is a servant of God, we need to share the Gospel with everyone.

I pray this prayer as I walk around my peers at college. As I go about this life. I do not want to forget that my life could've been easily tossed aside in the mind of another believer. I put myself in the the position of the soul of another. The biggest lesson I've learned from this though is that we should not speak out of selfish ambition. We need to speak with a broken heart that is pouring out God's Love on the person we're speaking to. We need to not just tell someone about the Gospel, but earnestly beg them to accept it. Because the Gospel is the only way to Heaven, if someone doesn't choose to put their faith in it, they are lost. So ask God to speak through you and reach out of your heart into theirs.

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen

Who is anyone but another face
Who is anyone but another soul
Who is anyone but another life
Who is anyone but another loved one
Who is anyone but another sinner
Who is anyone but another person that needs Jesus
Who is anyone but everyone.

Like Children and Sheep

Matthew 18:1-14

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"
He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
"And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.
"Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come! If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.

"See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.
"What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills ad go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.

When the disciples asked Jesus who the greatest in the kingdom of heaven is, they were probably expecting Jesus to say it would be a king or a great man who best followed the commands Jesus was leaving them. You could imagine the shock when Jesus called up, not just a child, but a "little child" and said that anyone who humbles himself like a child will be the greatest. Back then and even now, we adults look at children and we see immature little people who need to be taken care of and told what to do. Once we hit a certain point we stop comparing ourselves to children and we grow up. I believe this to be when we are able to take responsibility and gain personal freedom. We start feeling in control. We become the adult. We become prideful. Jesus saw through this and called the disciples, and now us, out on it. We've let our belief that we have control take over, when we are suppose to believe in the reality that we have none. We do not have control over even the hairs on our heads. But we've turned God's giving us free range of the things of this world misconstrue that. And the more we believe in the other things of this world, the less we believe in God and the more we come to doubt Him. So we are called to be like children in two ways: 1st we need to humble ourselves and remember that we're small and need God's help to live and do anything. We need to trust in Him and let go of the world. 2nd we need to have the faith of a child. A child will believe almost anything without doubting it for a second when an adult tells them. We need to strive for that same doubtless faith in Jesus.

The next part is Jesus saying that whoever welcomes a little child in His name welcomes Him. Now Jesus just got through saying that we need to be more like humble children because to God that's who we are. So in other words, all people are God's children. So anyone who welcomes any other welcomes Jesus. We must look at the other people in this world and remember them as God's daughters and sons and Love on them and we would with Jesus. We need to think about what we would do for Jesus, and then treat everyone like that. I fail at that too much. And that is why I thank Jesus for having Grace that I would not even give to myself.
Jesus does not finish there though. He goes on to say that if anyone causes any little one to sin, is better off having a millstone tied around his neck and thrown into the sea to drown. To cause someone else to sin is a greater wrong than sinning yourself, because you not only have your own blood on your hands now, but the blood of another. The news keeps playing stories about murder suicides done by families and students at homes and schools. Every time I see one of those stories I feel myself cursing the one who did it. But now I realize how little difference there is. For I know that I have led someone else to sin before. And I may as well have been a person holding a gun in a crowded store. We need to watch our words and actions around others. If they know we are a Christian, then we need to be the mirror image of Christ. If they see us doing something, they will see it as something anyone could do. This does happen. If people know you are a Christian, you have greater influence than you think. That title alone is a responsibility. So pray with me to start acting like it by listening to God and doing what He wants us to do.

Jesus continues by saying woe to the world and the people that cause others to sin. These things are suppose to happen, for that is what is prophesied in God's Word for the future. But even still, woe to those who they are done through. This is why Jesus continues by saying that if your hand or foot or eye causes you to sin, you must cut it off and throw it away. Not only can it lead us to sin, but since we are examples, it can lead others to sin. So we must cut off from ourselves what causes us to sin. In our world today, this could be anything. For those who have problems with lust it could be the internet, for those who drink or do drugs it could be those. It could be TV, or your clothes, anything. If you know it causes you to sin, it would be better to be rid of it than to "live" another day with it. Keeping these things in our lives only leads us away from God and leads others away. And that's not how it is suppose to be.

Jesus goes on to say that no one should look down on anyone. For all are seen by God and His servants. We must not judge or see ourselves as better than anyone else. Remember when you were so young that if you met any other child you would walk up and say, "Hi! Wanna be friends?" Just like we were as children so long ago, we need to be now: Accepting and Loving and Honest. Because if we're not, others could feel turned away. And to so many, we represent the character of Jesus Christ. Does that fit in with Scripture, no. But the people who haven't read it don't know that. They've been living according to the world. Unless we accept them and tell them that we all mess up and are nothing compared to Jesus, they will just see us and think that because we turn them down so does God. We have that much responsibility. That is why I pray for God to takeover my words and actions every time I wake up and leave my room. Because I want others to see Him, not me. I want to follow Jesus with everything that can be used for Him and throw away anything that can't. But of course, I get in the way. I fall away, and others do to. But Jesus knew that. So he told the parable of the sheep. Scroll back up and read it again.

He comes looking for us and for everyone else. When we call out to Him and He finds us hurt and ruined by the world, He picks us up and carries us back in His arms. When He comes back to the herd He rejoices that the one that was lost has been found. He is not willing to let any of us stay lost. He gives us each every chance to come back. It seems so easy to think otherwise when we see the world and how many people are not Christian. But, do we see the hearts or thoughts of those in this world? Do we know just how much recognizable influence God puts in other people's lives day in and day out? No we do not. So who are we to make a judgement about the way God works and what He does for others? We are naive, immature children, that's who. And so we must do what we can to stay as sheep in the herd that can rejoice with Jesus anytime another sheep is found.

There was a lot to unpack, and there is even more. I pray that anyone who reads this post goes back to the Scripture and unpacks more of it on their own. But all in all from this I have learned that we must have faith, humility, acceptance, and purity of a child. We must cut off what causes us to sin and can cause others to sin. And we must follow Jesus like sheep. Because, like I once wrote in another post, if we are not sheep who follow Jesus, we are wolves who lead others away.

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen