Saturday, November 10, 2007

• Ok now to live up to my promise LOL

  Ok, here is the rest of the previous post. Enjoy!
  
  

  The Essence of Christianity

  By Andrew Nudd

   

              I find it very disturbing that in Christian circles today we are quickly losing sight of what true Christianity really is. We have got the mindset that Christianity is about how many times we go to church, how much we read the Bible, pray or witness. But is that what the Bible really teaches?

              I am sure that we will all agree that the first thing that one must do to become a Christian is to get saved or “born again” as we southerners like to say. I will give a quick summary of what it means to get saved. First we must admit that we are sinners (Rom. 3:23) Second we must believe that Jesus is God and believe that Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection is enough to save us from God’s wrath. (John 3:16), thirdly we must confess our sins and accept God’s forgiveness (Rom. 10:9), and finally we must repent (from our sins and work on renewing our mind so that we think and act as God acts (Eph. 4:23-24). That last point is so often overlooked but it is essential for proper spiritual growth.

              In Eccl. 12:13 it says that the whole duty of man is to “fear God and keep His commandments…” But what are His commandments and how do we fear God? Prov. 8:13 says: “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the forward mouth do I hate.” In a nutshell what the Bible is saying that fearing God is hating the way that is opposite to what God loves. Keeping God’s commandments go hand in hand because we can “keep” God’s commandments but yet still not fear God. (Look at the Pharisees. they “kept” God’s commandment but yet were still filled with pride which God wants us to hate) Now there are many “commands” of God but they all tie into two commands: Loving God with all your heart soul and mind, and loving your neighbor as yourself. (Matt. 22:34-40; loving by the way is not just emotion it is a commitment of putting someone before yourself)      

              Now you still may wonder; doesn’t God say to go to church, pray and read your Bible? Yes He does but the thing that we need to see is the motive of why we do something and not the actual action. We can go to church, read our Bible and pray but if we do it so others will see it and praise us or so that people will think that we are a “good Christian” we are really being prideful and not fearing God as we should. Remember Christianity is a MINDSET NOT JUST A LIST OF DOES AND DON’TS. (Rom. 12:1-2; Eph. 4:23-24) What I mean is we have to get into a mindset of loving God and others before the actions come because the thought always comes before the action. (Mark 7:14-23 esp. look at vss. 20-23) Let’s keep our focus on what Christianity really is: a life that has been transformed from the inside out.                                           
  
  
  

  This was put together rather hurriedly so you will have to excuse the grammatical errors. I hope that you will think hard about this and I am interested in any of your comments. This article isn't just for everybody else. I know that God showed me areas that I was slacking in. Who knows maybe this was just for me. LOL God bless and keep looking to Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith
  
  Andrew
  
  

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