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“You’re going to hell…if you do this, if you do that, if you act like this, if you act like that…etc., etc.!” Heard that before?
I had a conversation with a couple of people last week where one person was rightfully annoyed that some Christians wrongfully, openly, boldly determine who is or isn’t “going to hell” based on certain sins being committed. I think sometimes Christians only painfully admit that no one but God gets to make that determination, or has that level of knowledge. But make no mistake, many people will definitely wake up in hell at the end of their life on earth. But why do some Christians feel the need to make a decision about who these individuals are? I mean for all intents and purposes, the thief who was crucified next to Jesus had every single attribute of one whose life was done and spoken for…he was a hellion, and was as good as dead. But Jesus, God in flesh, made the determination hours before he died, that this thief would instead be with Him in Paradise. What do we know about someone else’s eternity???
What I would like to point out based on today’s verse, and what I pointed out to those friends last week, is that what my fellow Christ Followers are really trying to say is this: If you are truly Saved, you live differently…or, you should.
Last week’s blog spoke about how Believers are supposed to be different from their old lives, and from unbelievers. Today’s verse finishes that thought…IF you INDEED have heard (responded to) His (Christ’s) message, and have been taught the Truth, which is in Him (Jesus)…then you ARE DIFFERENT. Galatians 5:17 states clearly that if God’s Spirit lives in us, we constantly have a war going on within. Our old nature fights against the new nature, and vice versa. But if there is no war going on…if we are content to remain as wretched ungodly, unconverted, unchanged sinners in mind, body, and soul, then we most likely have not INDEED heard (responded to) Christ’s message of Truth. That is what those who preach the “hell, fire, and damnation” message really should be saying. No, there is no time limit on how fast or how much we change in Christ; but, that war should definitely be happening within...constantly!
True Christ Followers should have to fight God Himself, each and every day, in order to live a life of sin. And let me tell you from experience, it is exhausting. But if you do have to struggle against the Truth to live in darkness and deceit, that’s a good thing! Don’t feel bad about it. But now it’s time to stop fighting, and give control to the Spirit that is living in you! It will be so freeing, I promise!
Seeking to Grow my Walk with God and Others,
Dawn~
I had a conversation with a couple of people last week where one person was rightfully annoyed that some Christians wrongfully, openly, boldly determine who is or isn’t “going to hell” based on certain sins being committed. I think sometimes Christians only painfully admit that no one but God gets to make that determination, or has that level of knowledge. But make no mistake, many people will definitely wake up in hell at the end of their life on earth. But why do some Christians feel the need to make a decision about who these individuals are? I mean for all intents and purposes, the thief who was crucified next to Jesus had every single attribute of one whose life was done and spoken for…he was a hellion, and was as good as dead. But Jesus, God in flesh, made the determination hours before he died, that this thief would instead be with Him in Paradise. What do we know about someone else’s eternity???
What I would like to point out based on today’s verse, and what I pointed out to those friends last week, is that what my fellow Christ Followers are really trying to say is this: If you are truly Saved, you live differently…or, you should.
Last week’s blog spoke about how Believers are supposed to be different from their old lives, and from unbelievers. Today’s verse finishes that thought…IF you INDEED have heard (responded to) His (Christ’s) message, and have been taught the Truth, which is in Him (Jesus)…then you ARE DIFFERENT. Galatians 5:17 states clearly that if God’s Spirit lives in us, we constantly have a war going on within. Our old nature fights against the new nature, and vice versa. But if there is no war going on…if we are content to remain as wretched ungodly, unconverted, unchanged sinners in mind, body, and soul, then we most likely have not INDEED heard (responded to) Christ’s message of Truth. That is what those who preach the “hell, fire, and damnation” message really should be saying. No, there is no time limit on how fast or how much we change in Christ; but, that war should definitely be happening within...constantly!
True Christ Followers should have to fight God Himself, each and every day, in order to live a life of sin. And let me tell you from experience, it is exhausting. But if you do have to struggle against the Truth to live in darkness and deceit, that’s a good thing! Don’t feel bad about it. But now it’s time to stop fighting, and give control to the Spirit that is living in you! It will be so freeing, I promise!
Seeking to Grow my Walk with God and Others,
Dawn~
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