Cross The Bridge
The Lord’s work is serious. We all have something to do. I’m not sure what I’m to do just yet, but each day I am listening for His instruction. Each of us as Christians were called to do something. We know that we are saved by Grace, not by works.
Does that mean that we should sit at home doing nothing for The Lord because we are already saved? Is it as easy as just saying a prayer and asking for forgiveness and then sitting in your chair doing nothing? Not going to church, not reading God’s word. Not ministering to others!
No!!! That is a trick put in your mind by the evil one. His job is to stop us from spreading the gospel. To stop as many people as he can from coming to know our awesome creator. Sadly it isn’t just the people who sit home on Sunday morning that he has tricked. Some of the people sitting next to you in church, think that their duty is fulfilled. They made it to church and they are right with the Lord. They sit in the same pew every week, go through the motions and are out the door. They don’t talk about The Lord outside of the church walls.
When we are saved we become new creatures. Yes, we sin. Anyone who says they don’t, are liars. However, we are changed. You cannot honestly become a Christian and not be changed. Believing is more than just believing that Jesus is the son of God, who died for our sins. There are a lot of people who believe that Jesus is who he says he is but they have not accepted him. Believing in him is loving him with your whole heart. Putting your all of your trust in Him.
When I think about what it means to believe in Jesus, I think of Billy Graham’s comparison to a bridge. You are walking a path and you see a bridge over a canyon. You look at it and believe that it will probably hold you. You see other people walking on it, so you know it will hold you. You haven’t crossed the bridge yet, so far your belief in the bridge is only in your head. However, you don’t really believe in the bridge until you are willing to commit your life to it and actually walk across it.
It’s like that with Jesus. We see others trusting in him. We hear others talking about him. We believe he is real and we believe he can save us. However, we don’t really believe in him until we make a commitment to follow him. We have to step out on that bridge and go across it. We can’t just sit on the other side watching others cross it, never taking the step on our own. Are you ready to cross that bridge?
Do you know ABOUT God? Or Do you KNOW Him personally? Are you firmly rooted and grounded it his Word? Do you hold fast to Him? Or are you moveable in your faith, easily tossed about by every whim? Are you excited about God? Are you on fire? If you aren’t on fire for God, you need your flame to be relit! I find it so very hard not to be on fire for God when you are taking time everyday to read his word and talk to Him through prayer. He wants us to draw near to him.
When you pray are you just asking for your wants and needs to be fulfilled? Or are you thanking him for what he has already done in your life? Does your faith in him depend on him answering your prayers and giving you the desires of your heart ? Do you understand that everything you already have is because of him? That you have already been given so much more than you deserve.
I’m not saying that you absolutely have to go to Church every single time the doors are open or that you have to knock on doors to witness to everyone you can to get in to heaven. There are people doing that, that will never see heaven. They are doing it out of obligation yet they may not have ever trusted Him. People are trying to into heaven by depending on their own actions and not fully trusting Jesus . Your works alone cannot get you in to heaven that’s for sure.
What I am saying is, that when you come to know him. When you come to realize all that He has done for you. You will want to draw near him. You will want to search the scriptures, you will want to pray. You will want to tell the world about what He has done for you. You will be a new creature. You will be convicted of your sins and you will repent of them. You will try to walk in a way that brings glory to Him. So, that others might see Him through you. You will try daily to be better.
You won’t be trying to be better so that you can boast about your greatness. You will try to be better so that others can see His greatness.
You may not go to church every single Sunday, but you will crave fellowship with other Christians. The devil will still make excuses to try to keep you at home. He doesn’t want us to grow because when we grow, we bring others in. Fellowship with other Christians is important to our growth.
The devil might tell you that the church is full of hypocrites. You don’t need to be there to be a Christian. That may be a half truth. The church may be full of hypocrites, but you aren’t going there for them. You are going there for God. I can honestly say in my lifetime, I have never been to a church where I felt like everyone was judging me. I think that is something the devil puts in our heads. Most churches are not this way, those that are don’t have God in their presence. Every church I have ever been to is welcoming. The whole point to a church is bringing sinners in to God! Anything you might have done is forgivable. Someone who isn’t familiar with the Bible may not know that a great deal of the New Testament was written by a man who actually persecuted Christians. This man was Saul who later became The Apostle Paul. If we put so much faith in a man who did as much as this man did and we believe that he really changed. Why would we think that you couldn’t? Your tattoos, children born out of wedlock, past drug addictions or other sins have nothing on Saul. Rest assured, we are not judging you. If by chance there are afew people in a church judging you, that is between them and God. It has nothing to do with you. Let them judge you, your relationship with God isn’t about them. They will answer for their own sins. Christians are not to judge. There is is one judge. That is God.
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