by David Brenneman
"For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls." 1 Peter 2:21-25.
"Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you." 2 Peter 1:5-11.
Peter asks the question, what say you in reply? Are you walking in His footsteps? Are you among those with these Godly attributes or have you become "blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins"?
The person who has to be diligent, with your faith suppling moral excellence, and with your moral excellence, knowledge, and with your knowledge, self-control, and with your self-control, perseverance, and with your perseverance, godliness, and with your godliness, brotherly kindness, and with your brotherly kindness, showing the love of Christ Jesus.
Our churches are under attack by Satan's minions. If the Believer in Christ isn't fully applied to the life in Christ that we're commanded to live...they will be duped...will be taken in. "As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;" Ephesians 4:14.
Those in Christ should not blindly be accepting 'new' ways of thinking that a local Church might entertain. If the 'new' is violating any portion of the Scriptures, RUN, don't walk away from there!
Our lives in Christ are indeed to be Christ presented to the world. Not just what we want people to see. Our lives in Christ are to be of genuine repentance, genuine gratitude, genuine love as Christ first loved us.
Ours isn't just getting saved then doing our own thing. It's us willing to have Jesus live through us to reach the lost yet in this world whom are to become children of God as well as ourselves.
It's not enough to just SAY you're a follower of Jesus Christ...are you showing the attributes of Him in you? You read it. Are there Christ-like attributes coming from you?
Are your thoughts about you, how you're going to do this, you're this, you're that...do you use "I" to talk about what's going on in your life a bit much? Is your life characterized by selfishness? How you don't get YOUR way.
The Church you go to is supposed to grow you in Christ. A not so new subtle attack on the Church is to get people convinced to be ok with allowing worldly ideas into Christian living. To be ok with what the world accepts in the face of what the Scriptures say God is opposed to.
Such people are not walking in the character of Christ.
When God tells you and I explicitly who will never see His Heaven, take that to the bank. They will never see Heaven. When God calls something sin, nobody's opinion on it matters...it is defined as being sin by the Word of God therefore its sin...end of story. When we're tempted to compromise in learning to grow in the character of Christ we're in danger of forgetting our former purification from our sins.
Jesus saw through the Pharisees and the Sadducies of His day.
My Dear Reader WE have these kinds of people infiltrating the Church today and ONLY those diligent, persevering, in walking in Christ will figure it out and indeed expose such.
It happens now so I guarantee it will happen at the Final Judgment where people will try to excuse their choices and decisions by saying "but so-and-so said it was ok! They said it was from God!" and He who is the Truth will respond with "But what did My Word say? Why did you blindly believe them and didn't see for yourself if these things were so by My standard?"
The battlefield of the mind is a relentless battle in the time in which we live. Perspective is everything. Running to the Word of God is critical. Filtering out what shouldn't be injested mentally is critical. Being intentional about living for Jesus is a must. Being absolutely sure that you are saved is a must. Showing the fruit of the Spirit is a must.
There's a war going on and most these days, within and outside of the Church of Jesus Christ are not taking it seriously.
Sometimes the truth is hung out for all to see and it's done in such a way that people dismiss it as fiction because of its context.
"There's a war out there, old friend. A world war. And it's not about who's got the most bullets. It's about who controls the information. What we see and hear, how we work, what we think... it's all about the information!" - from the movie "Sneakers" 1992.
Right there in a nutshell is why we who are in Christ should be fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. Not part-time, not when it's convenient, all the time. These attributes of Jesus should always be ours and increasing.
AI these days, regardless of how it's been believed or accepted, is out of control. It's mostly mimicking Satan's subtle schemes delivered with whip cream and a cherry on top. While AI has its positive uses its designed to get the user to stop thinking for themselves. To stop questioning what's presented as truth whereas the Word of God says to think, to question, to flee from things of this world.
You my Dear Reader need to be sure you are in Christ. You need to be sure you're growing in Christ. You need to be displaying the character of Christ. The qualities of Christ SHOULD be yours and increasing as your walk with Jesus continues. Standing firm in the Word of God.
All NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission.
New American Standard Bible
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